HBO on Tuesday announced that Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos, a two-part documentary on the premium cabler’s iconic mob drama The Sopranos and the visionary behind it, will premiere on September 7. The two parts will air consecutively, beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on the 7th, and will also be available to stream on Max.
A trailer was also unveiled, which you can view above.
25 years after the show first debuted, HBO’s paradigm-shifting series The Sopranos remains a cultural phenomenon and a touchstone for prestige television. In Wise Guy, Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief) delves deep into the psyche of Sopranos creator and writer, David Chase, to illuminate his life and career while offering a unique window into his unparalleled work on the iconic program.
On a replica set of Dr. Melfi’s psychiatrist’s office, Gibney flips the script on Chase, excavating and analyzing the origins of The Sopranos, his creative process, and the intimate connections between his own life and many of his characters. Joined by show writers, producers, executives, and actors, including Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, and Michael Imperioli, the documentary offers insight and inspiration along with an array of clips from the show, early audition videos from many of the cast members, and behind-the-scenes footage to take the viewer into the Sopranos world.
From his own upbringing in an Italian American family in north New Jersey, with a complicated mother and a fascination with cinema, Chase details his entrée into Hollywood, where he wrote for a multitude of television shows, and his relationship with HBO as he pitched and developed his anti-hero mobster Tony Soprano. With candor and self-reflection, Chase digs into the challenges of running a successful show, the inevitable “deaths” of some of the show’s favorite characters, and his creative working relationship with the late James Gandolfini.
A Jigsaw production, Wise Guy world premiered at this year’s Tribeca Festival. Ophelia Harutyunyan and Gibney produced the doc, while Nicole Lambert, Richard Perello and Stacey Offman exec produced, along with Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller and Sara Rodriguez for HBO.