{"id":3725,"date":"2026-07-07T16:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T16:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3725"},"modified":"2026-07-07T16:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T16:38:16","slug":"the-sopranos-creator-david-chase-on-making-a-movie-about-lsd-alongside-mkultra-series-and-being-concerned-about-censorship-under-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3725","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Sopranos\u2019 Creator David Chase on Making a Movie About LSD Alongside MKUltra Series and Being Concerned About \u2018Censorship\u2019 Under Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tTelevision legend David Chase, the creator of the multi-award-winning HBO series \u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d told Variety <\/em>he is independently working on a film \u201cthat deals with LSD\u201d while also developing a series on the subject for HBO. While he could not go into much more detail, he briefly mentioned that it involves \u201ca young woman\u201d who is \u201ca college DJ,\u201d so \u201cthere is a lot of music.\u201d\u00a0Chase is planning to both write and direct the feature film project, his first directorial effort since 2012\u2019s \u201cNot Fade Away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more U2 Releases \u2018Street of Dreams,\u2019 First Single From Upcoming Album, the Band\u2019s First All-New Effort in Nine Years<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe seven-time Emmy winner is at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival to deliver an industry talk about the everlasting impact of his TV drama about an Italian-American mafia boss in New Jersey, which ran from 1999 to 2007 and forever changed the face of cable television. Last year, it was announced that Chase was reteaming with HBO to deliver a series titled \u201cProject: MKUltra.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBased on \u201cProject Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKULTRA\u201d by John Lisle, the series is set to revolve around real-life chemist and spymaster Sidney Gottlieb, also known as the Black Sorcerer, who is credited as the unwitting godfather of the LSD counterculture. A previous HBO line on the project said Gottlieb \u201cheaded the CIA\u2019s MKUltra Psychedelic program, which conducted dangerous and deadly mind-control experiments on willing and unwilling subjects during the height of the Cold War.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about the current status of the project, Chase says he is still \u201cin this story stage.\u201d \u201cThere is so much to it,\u201d he says of the original book. \u201cIt turns out maybe Charles Manson was given LSD by [MKUltra]; all these other people took LSD, like Cary Grant\u2026. For me, it\u2019s almost funny. It\u2019s absurd. I like the irony that they wanted to make [LSD] into a weapon, but it became a party drug and a very spiritual experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked whether he has a particular focus for the project, the writer says the \u201ctrouble\u201d is that he is faced with \u201can embarrassment of riches.\u201d \u201cThere is so much stuff to narrow down. You hear about something else and go, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s got to be in it.\u2019 Then you hear about some other incredible thing and, oh well\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIs Chase worried about working on a project intricately tied to American politics under the current political climate in his home country? \u201cSince Trump, I\u2019ve been concerned it\u2019s only a little big or a hop, skip and a jump up to censorship,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Chase is not concerned about conspiracy theorists and right-wing political commentators online swarming the discourse about his upcoming project, he is reticent about a future where creatives \u201care being told you can\u2019t say that and you can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI used to work on network television and you couldn\u2019t have a person burp on camera, you couldn\u2019t show the toilet bowl, the gun going off, the person getting shot\u2026 It was rules, rules, rules. And those are minor things. When you get to the political stuff, that concerns me.\u201d When asked in response if he feels something like the Hays Code could be reinstated, Chase immediately says: \u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the almost two decades since \u201cThe Sopranos\u201d ended, Chase has tried to produce several other projects without a bite, a mind-boggling thought given his track record. It has now been 19 years since the creative wrote for television, having worked only on \u201cNot Fade Away\u201d and the 2021 \u201cSopranos\u201d film prequel \u201cThe Many Saints of Newark\u201d since. Looking back at the ideas he mourns the most, Chase mentions the now-defunct \u201cA Ribbon of Dreams,\u201d a series about the early days of cinema that HBO passed on.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cI think that could have been really good and a lot of fun,\u201d he says, quickly adding that the project \u201ccould have been made\u201d in Europe but \u201cwould have been expensive.\u201d \u201cThey wanted us to make it somewhere in the middle of Canada,\u201d Chase notes of the collaborators he approached at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the occasion of his first visit to Eastern Europe, the writer says he would be very open to making something on the continent. \u201cI have a bunch of ideas. They\u2019re mostly movie ideas, but there are two different things: there is shooting a project here because it\u2019s cheaper, and then shooting a project here because it belongs here,\u201d he emphasizes, adding that a project like the \u201cMKUltra\u201d series would not work well in Europe, but he would \u201clove to shoot\u201d something else in France. \u201cI hear the crews work for 10 hours and then you can have some wine,\u201d he notes with a chuckle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother project Chase is willing to try bringing back to life is his \u201cSuperman\u201d spoof \u201cUltimo,\u201d an idea he worked on years before \u201cThe Sopranos.\u201d The series would follow an Italian-American kid who eats moon rocks, fails to digest them, and ends up with terribly inconvenient superpowers. Unable to function in the real world, the kid then surrounds himself with publicists, lawyers and all sorts of professional help to smooth the transition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf someone wanted to do \u2018Ultimo,\u2019 I\u2019d be interested in that,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I think the idea is well used by now. I think it was kind of original back then, but I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s original anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked if he believes the idea could be made contemporary by adding elements like artificial intelligence, which blurs the lines between what looks real or not (would people believe footage of a real-life superhero today?) and could therefore further muddle the complications for his young hero, Chase\u2019s face lights up: \u201cOh, I like that. I could see that. Maybe you\u2019ll help me get it made\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for Hollywood, Chase is not nearly as hopeful. Commenting on whether he keeps up with television today, the writer recalls how difficult it was to watch new films and TV while making \u201cThe Sopranos.\u201d \u201cWhen you\u2019re writing for a series, you\u2019re creating a whole universe. And then I would go to the movies, and I didn\u2019t understand [their] universe. It\u2019s not like the universe I live in all day long, which is \u2018The Sopranos\u2019 universe. That\u2019s when I started watching less.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tChase then stops himself, taking a long pause before adding: \u201cI have to say\u2026 Well, no. I\u2019m not going to say it.\u201d Before killing this reporter out of curiosity, the creative lets out the words hovering at the tip of his tongue: \u201cWell\u2026 They\u2019re not taking a lot of risks in Hollywood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Animation Takes Greater Share of California Film Incentive as $71 Million Goes to Four Films Including \u2018Donkey\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘The Sopranos’ creator David Chase reveals he is working on movie ‘about LSD’ parallel to series about MKUltra for HBO, fears censorship under Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2779,622,1438,3062],"class_list":["post-3725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-david-chase","tag-hbo","tag-karlovy-vary-film-festival-2","tag-the-sopranos"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018The Sopranos\u2019 Creator David Chase on Making a Movie About LSD Alongside MKUltra Series and Being Concerned About \u2018Censorship\u2019 Under Trump - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3725\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018The Sopranos\u2019 Creator David Chase on Making a Movie About LSD Alongside MKUltra Series and Being Concerned About \u2018Censorship\u2019 Under Trump - 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