Lorraine Bracco of THE SOPRANOS

HBO presents

May 20, 2001

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Venom830: How is the cast of The Sopranos to work with?

Lorraine Bracco: Great! Exciting, thrilling to go to work with, very creative, inventive. I must say that I am honestly looking forward to doing another season.

Amour Fou: Will you be doing any feature films any time soon, besides the backseat Car movie due to be released in the fall?

Lorraine Bracco: That would be "Riding in Cars with Boys" with Drew Barrymore, that Penny Marshall directed. No, there are a whole lot of things pending because of the actors' strike, and because my arm has really stopped me these last couple of months from doing anything. I'll see what happens.

Marty3: Hello Lorraine. Does your character, Dr. Melfi, have an ethical problem having Tony Soprano as her patient, knowing what type of business he's in?

Lorraine Bracco: It's something that she has to deal with, but I do believe she believes she can help him. Once he's aware of what he's doing, maybe he'll change.

Amour Fou: What are your thoughts on the violence towards women on the show?

Lorraine Bracco: Well, violence towards women, period, is despicable. What I like is that we don't pussyfoot around, and when you see violence for what it is, it's a huge deterrent. When you don't see violence and the person is already dead with the blood and they go onto the whole murder mystery part, I think it looks easy. It looks like nothing, and it feels like nothing, which is even worse. If people see violence and are revolted by it, maybe they wouldn't be so willing to do it.

Suzanne: What one thing would you like to say to detractors of "The Sopranos"?

Lorraine Bracco: This is America, and I am a big believer in the First Amendment, so they're allowed to think what they want. I do believe we're not curing cancer; it's just a TV show, much as I love it. Hollywood has always had a fascination with the underworld, whether it be John Dillinger or Lucky Luciano or Bugsy Siegel. The underworld is not just for Italian Americans. The only thing that ever really bothers me is that they always want to dismiss Dr. Melfi because she is not part of Tony's family or crew. Especially because of Episode 4, when she didn't tell him, and there were all those moral constraints for her. Too many of those people want to dismiss that, and I find it very unfair.

Mr Powerz: How do you feel about many of your movies being related to Mafia life and the Italian heritage?

Lorraine Bracco: I did "Goodfellas" and I did play Diane Giacalone 's story. She was the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn who was one of the first people to take on John Gotti before he was the Godfather. And now "The Sopranos." I think because "The Sopranos" and "Goodfellas" were such a huge success, that's all that a lot of people see. But I have made a lot of other really great movies that Italian never came into, like "Medicine Man," "Dream Team," "Basketball Diaries," and "Someone to Watch over Me." But for some reason, "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos" have been the most famous. Unless you can think of more that I'm not thinking of…

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