Filming resumes on ‘Sopranos’ prequel movie as film production returns to New Jersey

The cast and crew of “The Many Saints of Newark,” a prequel movie to the HBO hit “The Sopranos,” returned to New Jersey this week to film reshoots. It could be the first of many film shoots returning to the Garden State after a pause caused by COVID-19.

News 12 Staff

Sep 24, 2020, 1:14 AM

Updated 1,541 days ago

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The cast and crew of “The Many Saints of Newark,” a prequel movie to the HBO hit “The Sopranos,” returned to New Jersey this week to film reshoots. It could be the first of many film shoots returning to the Garden State after a pause caused by COVID-19.
The “Many Saints” cast was in Bloomfield on Wednesday filming at the famed ice cream shop Holstens. Cast and crew were wearing face coverings and PPE while not filming – the new normal of filmmaking.
“All the producers have been telling us, ‘We’re coming back and we’re coming back to New Jersey,'” says New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission executive director Steven Gorelick.
Gorelick says that after nearly six months, filmmakers are ready to go back to work. Only select projects cleared to shoot have been taking place during this time.
An agreement between unions, studios and other entities requires the use of PPE, a zone system on set, pay if quarantine is necessary and COVID-19 testing.
“Here in New Jersey you can spread out a little bit more and you can meet the demands of those protocols,” says Gorelick. “I think it’s even more attractive to work in New Jersey than it was before the pandemic.”
New Jersey has been the location of recent major productions, including “Joker” and the “West Side Story” remake, all bringing production jobs and more than $400 million in revenue to New Jersey, according to the commission.
The release of “The Many Saints of New York” is postponed until March 2021. Reshoots were planned to be done much earlier but were delayed by the virus.