Raul Delapena Setiawan
For more than a decade, the television landscape has felt the lingering absence of David Chase. As the creative architect behind The Sopranos, Chase fundamentally altered the DNA of modern storytelling, ushering in the "Golden Age of Television" and proving that complex, morally ambiguous protagonists could anchor a cultural phenomenon. Yet, since the final cut of his seminal HBO drama, his output has been sporadic and, by his own admission, fraught with the friction of a creative visionary operating within a risk-averse industry.
Now, the silence is breaking. Chase is currently in development on Project: MKUltra, a high-stakes limited series for HBO that aims to peel back the layers of the CIA’s clandestine mind-control programs of the 1950s and 60s. The announcement serves as a homecoming, marking his most significant television project since the halls of the Bada Bing were shuttered.
A Career in Limbo: The Hard Truths of Hollywood
During a candid and wide-ranging Q&A at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Chase addressed the elephant in the room: why has it taken so long for him to return to the small screen? His answer was as blunt as a Tony Soprano monologue.
"Well, I wrote a lot of things, and nobody bought them," Chase admitted to the audience. "I wasn’t that lucky, and that’s the reason why. There was something at HBO I really wanted to do, and then they didn’t want to do it. That fell apart because of money, and then nobody else wanted to do it."
Chase’s transparency underscores the volatile nature of the industry. Despite his pedigree, the veteran writer-director has struggled to find a home for projects that don’t fit the mold of what he calls "everything they’ve seen before." According to Chase, studios and networks are driven by a narrow, repetitive focus: "They want things they’ve seen make loads of money before. It’s very simple really. And they want the Oscars and to go to the parties."
Reflecting on the Sopranos Prequel: "We Made a Mistake"
The discussion inevitably turned to The Many Saints of Newark (2021), the cinematic prequel to The Sopranos that drew mixed reactions from both critics and the franchise’s die-hard fanbase. Chase, reflective and unsparing in his self-critique, noted that the project—which he initially envisioned as a broader origins story—became something he hadn’t intended.
"Unfortunately, that took over the whole process," Chase said of the prequel narrative. "I can tell you, we just made a mistake."
He specifically pointed to the absence of Dickie Moltisanti—Christopher’s father—as a narrative oversight that haunts him. "We had talked about him all through The Sopranos, that he was a drug addict and an alcoholic and insane. And then when we made the movie, he wasn’t in it. I don’t know how we forgot that, but we did."
The omission was calculated, if misguided. Chase explained, "The problem was we didn’t want to cross him with Tony Soprano. We thought, well, he looked like the same kind of guy, some kind of rage-filled idiot, so we didn’t do it."
The Economics of Fear: Why Risk is a Dirty Word
Chase’s frustration with the studio system extends beyond his own projects; he is deeply critical of the business logic governing modern film and television. During the festival forum, he expressed bafflement at the cowardice of contemporary executives.
"I’m not a businessman, but the profit margins in the motion picture business have always been around 6%, from the silent era to the present day," he noted. "So I’m not sure why anyone would get into that business if you’re afraid of taking risks. You’re better off selling running shoes."
To illustrate his point, he invoked the wisdom of filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie, who famously remarked that Hollywood is governed by only two forces: greed and fear. Chase affirmed this assessment, suggesting that the industry has regressed into a cycle where originality is sacrificed at the altar of safe bets. For a creator like Chase, who built a career on defying audience expectations, this environment represents a structural hostility to art.
Project: MKUltra: A Deep Dive into the Cold War Psyche
His upcoming series, Project: MKUltra, represents a departure from the suburban mob life of North Jersey into the darker, more surreal corridors of American history. Based on the non-fiction book Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKUltra by John Lisle, the series will explore the life of Sidney Gottlieb—the chemist and spymaster known as "The Black Sorcerer."
Gottlieb headed the CIA’s MKUltra program, a series of experiments that subjected human beings to horrific mind-control trials, often using LSD and other psychedelics without the knowledge or consent of the participants. The series promises to be a "dramatic thriller," dissecting how the government weaponized human consciousness during the Cold War.
When asked why this specific subject matter captivated him, Chase offered a characteristically personal response. "Well, most likely because I took LSD when I was younger," he said. "I was not an acid head, but I took it eight or nine times, and I believe that it changed my life. I still don’t quite understand it."
Chase views the government’s failure with the program through a lens of profound irony. "When you hear that the American government wanted to turn it into a weapon, and how they f***ed up, and it’s not a weapon at all—it’s a spiritual experience—that’s a good movie."
Development Strategy: The Hybrid Model
Interestingly, the project has evolved into a hybrid of television and film. Chase, who has spent five years working on a screenplay, originally intended the story to be a feature film. However, his "first-look" deal with HBO changed the trajectory.
"I wanted to option [the book] so that it would appear in the press, and then people would say, ‘Oh, well, somebody’s already doing an LSD story, so I won’t do it,’" Chase explained. When his agent insisted he inform HBO of his intentions, he met with network executives Casey Bloys and Francesca Orsi. Their immediate enthusiasm for the project was so infectious that it prompted Chase to expand his vision.
He is now writing both a limited series for HBO and a standalone feature film, the latter of which currently lacks a distributor. "I guess we’re gonna have to make the movie and then try to find one," Chase noted, unfazed by the prospect of self-financing or finding a home post-production.
Future Horizons: The Italian American Diaspora
Beyond Project: MKUltra, Chase is already looking toward his next potential venture. He expressed a desire to reunite with the cast of his 2012 film Not Fade Away—specifically Jack Huston, Will Brill, and Bella Heathcote—for a new story centered on the Italian American experience.
His concept is timely: a film about Italian Americans moving back to their ancestral homeland, taking advantage of the "one-euro home" schemes in abandoned Italian villages. "They sell these houses in these abandoned towns for nothing, and a lot of Americans are buying these houses and moving there because things in our country are questionable," Chase observed. "I’d like to do something like that about four Italian American people going back to the old country, and what surprises are in store for them."
The Legacy of Creative Persistence
David Chase’s return to the spotlight is a reminder of the fragility of creative legacies in an industry prone to forgetting its icons. Whether discussing his missteps with The Many Saints of Newark or his deep-seated skepticism regarding studio executives, Chase remains a man who refuses to play by the rules of the corporate machine.
As he prepares to dive into the dark, psychedelic history of the CIA, one thing is certain: he remains one of the few voices in entertainment who views the creative process not as a product to be managed, but as a spiritual and intellectual challenge. For his audience, the long wait for his return to television seems a small price to pay for the ambitious, complex, and uncompromising work that lies ahead.
Sagoh
Basiran
