I think that the difference between The Sopranos and the shows that came before it was that it was really personal. There had been a lot of dramas, a lot of really good ones, a lot of really bad ones, but they were always franchise shows about cops, or doctors, or lawyers. They weren't about the writer himself.

Cancer don't respect nothing.

The thing about movies now is in a way what it always was: The screen is huge and now the sound systems are too. And you never get that with TV. Even with a home system, it's never the same.

When I was doing 'The Sopranos,' I liked putting music together with the film; that was my favorite part of it.

I'm the number-one fan of gangster movies.

Hope comes in many forms.

Television is a prisoner of dialogue and steady-cam. People walk down a hall, and the camera follows them around a corner.