Drea de Matteo discusses her new podcast and why The Sopranos is still the ‘richest role’ of her career

Drea de Matteo unexpectedly landed the acting job of a lifetime when she was cast in a one-line role on the then-unknown show The Sopranos.

That line, of course, grew into starring as Adriana La Cerva. The only truly good-hearted character on the show, Adriana's arc (as fiancé Christopher Moltisanti would say) was doomed from the start, partly because of that kindness (she was also a drug addict engaged to Moltisanti, after all).

More than 20 years after the 1999 pilot episode aired, and 16 years since Adriana met her fateful end a season shy of the series finale, The Sopranos has re-entered de Matteo’s life as a new generation of viewers discovers the show.

“It’s so much fun knowing that there’s a whole rebirth around it,” says de Matteo over the phone from her Los Angeles home. “I loved the show so much, and I’m so happy that it’s going to continue having its fanbase.”

Part of that resurgence can be attributed to the pandemic-induced quarantine, which helped to increase The Sopranos viewership 179% on the HBO Now streaming service alone, according to GQ. For de Matteo, who has since had starring and recurring roles on series like Desperate Housewives, Sons Of Anarchy, and Shades Of Blue, The Sopranos is also at the forefront of her career once again because of her podcast with co-host (and friend), Chris Kushner.

Originally starting as Made Women when they teamed up with a media company for a “rewatch and relate” podcast of The Sopranos just before the pandemic, de Matteo and Kushner ventured out on their own after completing the first season in an effort to have more agency.

Now called the Gangster Goddess Broad-cast, the weekly podcast still features a breakdown of The Sopranos episodes (complete with cast member guest appearances), but it includes real-life stories of overcoming tragedy, too.

“The initial idea for our show was to talk about how people rise from the ashes - it can be a life-changing event or it can be a momentary event in someone’s life,” the Emmy Award-winning actress explains of what they’ve dubbed their Busted And Readjusted segments.

“The company that met with us said, ‘Yeah, we’ll give you that show, but first give us a Sopranos rewatch.’ When I started rewatching [the show], I was like, ‘Wait a minute, this relates to our theme because the characters have so much self-awareness and the show deals with so many big life issues,” says de Matteo. “It made sense, so I said, ‘F**k it, let’s do it.’”

In between discussing The Sopranos and interviewing guests, the two women aren’t afraid to get real about their own lives, including plenty of relatable, expletive-riddled commentary about everything from their childhoods (de Matteo, from Queens, and Kushner, from New Jersey) to raising children (they each have two kids, which is actually how they met).

“There’s a real girlfriend aspect, where listeners feel like they’re just in on a call with us,” explains Kushner, who has been spearheading the logistical side of the podcast, which posts new episodes on Tuesdays.

“But it’s been a huge learning process,” she says. “We have a huge YouTube component, and it’s not as easy as just turning on the microphone - especially when you’re doing a rewatch with Sopranos fans,” Kushner continues of the pressure to get every detail right.

“Aside from being pretty deep about The Sopranos, the other side of the show is like Dr. Phil meets Betty White,” summarizes de Matteo. “With a little bit of Howard Stern,” Kushner adds through laughter.

Ahead, de Matteo shares more about her time on The Sopranos, the pressure she felt following the series and finding herself with an unexpectedly full house in quarantine.

How did studying film production at NYU lead you to acting?

“My mom was an amazing playwright. She taught playwriting at HB Studio for years, and I hated it. I grew up having to spend every one of my birthdays at one of the openings of her plays.

I would sit through every rehearsal in the audience thinking, ‘I’m 12, I should be playing this game someplace with my friends, but yet I’m stuck here with f**king adults indulging themselves in their emotions.’ So I didn’t get it. I still loved the arts - I knew nothing else - but I went to film school, which I thought was the ultimate f**k you. Then slowly, I found myself right where I swore I'd never be.

One of the classes in the program was acting for directors, which cracks me up when I watch that episode of The Sopranos, where Adriana buys Christopher the acting class for writers. That was me! That’s where I was told, ‘You should be acting.’ I could feel the audience reaction, and I could also feel that I was not performing, that I was actually in the moment. I was like, ‘Holy s**t, this is where I belong.’”

Do you remember when you knew Adriana was going to be a major role for you?

“I remember auditioning for the pilot, and they didn’t give me a script. It was called The Sopranos, so I thought it was about opera singers or whatever. David Chase [the show’s creator] had me read for about four different parts that day 'cause he said that he just didn’t feel I was Italian enough, and he was right. When I went in, I didn’t dress for the part, I didn’t have the accent, I didn’t do any of the things that would have been required of me had I known what the show was about. So I read for like four different characters, and I didn’t get it.

He offered me the part in the pilot of the hostess at the restaurant that turns down Lorraine Bracco [Dr. Melfi]. So they got me the script after that, and I read it and I gave it to my mom and we said, ‘Holy s**t. It’s so good, it’s so soulful, it’s so smart, it’s so funny - it will probably never see the light of day.’ And I did the part, it was one line.

I think we shot the pilot in ’97, and the series aired in ’99, so this must have been in ’98 - I could have the timeline totally f**kin’ wrong. But I’ll never forget, I was sitting in my parents’ house in Queens, my grandmother was making chicken cutlet parmigiana and I get a phone call. They want me to come in right now, and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m in Queens, I can’t come in right now.’ And they said, ‘That’s great, we’re in Queens.’ So there went me, my mom and my dad with our chicken cutlet parmigiana heroes.

My only line was ‘Ow.’ And my mom goes, ‘Listen, you know how your neighbor says ow? Turn it into six syllables.’ And that’s what I did, and I got the part of Christopher’s girlfriend.

I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I was just saying my lines and trying to get by. I think by season 2 I was a series regular because when I started watching this year for the podcast, I had a credit in the beginning. I got just as excited this year when I saw that, doing the rewatch, as I did when I actually saw it when I was in my 20s.”

Adriana had so many iconic fashion moments - the Roberto Cavalli tiger dress, the Juicy Couture tracksuits - how important was her wardrobe for you to get into character?

“Oh my god. So first of all, I was a little method back then with my acting, I was a mad man when it came to acting. I could not show up to set without having my nails done in a salon. Later on in the series, I started to wear custom-made press-ons, but for the first year - if you look at my nails, they’re acrylics and they’re about an inch and a half long. And that, to me, was Adriana’s thing.

I also couldn’t have my accent without my high heels. They had a scene in season 1 where I’m wearing Christopher’s leopard print bathrobe and I’m getting out of the shower, and I had such a hard time with that as an actor. I was new, I didn’t have much technique yet, and I felt that I couldn’t speak in her accent or act with her attitude without my hair and makeup.

When the costume designer, Juliet Polcsa, came on board, that’s when Adriana’s wardrobe and style was really born. Without Juliet, there was no Adriana for me. I needed those costumes to get into character.”

When did you find out that Adriana was going to be killed?

“I was gonna direct a movie in season 5 - I wanted to get back to my film school roots. So I went to David Chase, and said, ‘I see what’s happening with the FBI [and Adriana] on the show, do you think that I have a life beyond season 5?’ David pulled me over and said, ‘I’m shooting this ending to the season two ways: I’m going to shoot it once where you get away and once where you get killed, and no one is going to know the ending until it comes out.’

The reason why they had to shoot it two ways - and I don’t know if this is the exact reason for David Chase, there might have been more reasons - is the confidentiality on the set was such a big deal. There was a leak on our set, and we didn’t know who it was, so if they would have shot me getting killed, then that would have gotten out to the press.

So the actual death was shot with a skeleton crew, and the other scene where I get away was shot with a regular crew. Nobody knew how it was going to end, not even the actors. And if you watch that episode, he shows both scenarios - he shows her imagining that she gets away, and then he shows her being killed.

I didn’t know how to play that scene [in the car with Silvio] because I didn’t know what David wanted to see. Is she crying because Christopher is in rehab? Is she crying because she knows what her demise is? You just don’t know why she’s crying. But that’s the beauty of The Sopranos, all of its ambiguity.

The way your perception of a piece of art changes over time - I would see it one way when I was in my 20s, but now watching the show in my 40s, I extract different meanings. That’s part of the reason why I love doing this rewatch on Gangster Goddess, because there is a participation aspect from the audience. The audience was so committed, and I think they were committed because they could find themselves in any one of these characters. It goes beyond the gunshots - it’s about a family before anything else.”

Were you afraid of being typecast in the same role after The Sopranos?

“I was afraid that I wouldn’t get another f**king job again. After you’re stereotyped playing a character like that? It’s hard to break out of. Forget about directing the movie, I ended up getting a huge job with the Friends spin-off of Joey.

I was petrified because I didn’t want to stereotype myself, I had never done a sitcom before and the freakin’ pressure coming off of The Sopranos and then [Matt LeBlanc] coming off of Friends - it’s like how does this survive? So they offered me this job of playing Joey Tribbiani’s sister, and I was like, ‘Yes, I’ll take it, f**k it.’

Except for playing Gina on Joey, there’s a through line with my characters - on Shades Of Blue, even Desperate Housewives - where she’s always been a victim to something. So I’ve been playing that part for a really long time.

But here’s the thing, I’m almost 50. If I could pick any role at this point in my life, I would pick a role as close to Adriana as possible because that’s the richest role I’ve had to play so far. I would prefer to go back to the accent, I’d prefer to be in New York shooting, I’d prefer to play a whole New York story - that’s where I would rather be at this point. I don’t care about stereotyping at this age.”

How are you spending your time in quarantine?

“I’ve been in Los Angeles, and I’m happy that I still have this home here 'cause this was the right place to be in quarantine with two kids. I care for an 85-year-old woman, so we’ve spent this time really protecting her. A friend of mine was also visiting right before the quarantine, my boyfriend was visiting from Nashville, my girlfriend was visiting from New York - and we all got stuck here together.

The first part of the quarantine, me and my boyfriend - who was my new boyfriend, by the way - set the whole schooling system up for my son. My daughter was self-sufficient with it. But this year, it’s completely set up by the school - I don’t even know how to use the program my son’s using. I just know that I’m on call from 8am until 2 o’clock in the afternoon if he needs me. And then we’re doing Duolingo together to learn Italian, which is fun. We all speak Spanish in this house, so we already have that down.

I’m just focusing on mom-ing and podcasting right now. I'm off to buy a trellis for my flowers, then I’m getting some cement to build a skate park with my son and black dye because my daughter wants to make a black cake. This is my life, being a mom.”