James Gandolfini was a genius. Anyone who saw him even in the smallest of his performances knows that. He is one of the greatest actors of this or any time... A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes. I remember telling him many times, 'You don't get it. You're like Mozart.'

Don't get too comfortable. We are here for a certain period of time, and how much of your life are you gonna choose to spend with distractions? How do you make your choices? What is important?

People get so tired of the '60s.

I think storytelling is all about children. We human beings love to hear stories being told - and it first happens when you're a kid.

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

It doesn't matter if your lead character is good or bad. He just has to be interesting, and he has to be good at what he does.

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.