'The Sopranos' trivia and fun facts

David Chase had one rule for the scenes at Dr. Melfi's office: no camera movements.

When Jamie-Lynn Sigler was first called in to audition for Meadow Soprano, she knew nothing about the premise of the show. From the title, she thought it might be about opera singers.

Tony Sirico only agreed to sign on for the show if it was guaranteed that his character Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri would not be a "rat", an informant. As Sirico explained in James Toback's documentary The Big Bang (1989), he had served time in prison for robbery. Altogether, Sirico's rap sheet included at least 28 arrests. Reportedly, he also appeared briefly in an uncredited role in 'The Godfather: Part II' (1974).

HBO was worried that the title of the series would make the audience think it was about music. That is why the gun image is in the title logo. The network also considered other titles for the show, such as 'Made in New Jersey'.

Drea de Matteo had to spend four hours in hair and makeup before shooting each episode in order to achieve her "mob girl" look. It took two hours to prepare her hair, and in the instances in which her arms, legs, and/or torso were uncovered, an hour and a half to apply makeup to cover her tattoos.

Before David Chase chose "Woke Up This Morning" by UK band Alabama 3 (from their 1997 debut album "Exile on Coldharbour Lane"), he wanted to open every episode with a different song. HBO executives convinced him that viewers needed to be able to identify the show with a theme song. However, every "Sopranos" episode ends with a different song.

Many local New Jersey businesses are used as locations in the series. In the opening credits, we see a shot of a pizza shack known as Pizza Land. They get calls for pizza orders from all over the country as a result. In one episode, an actual sporting goods store, Ramsey Outdoor in Paramus, was portrayed as going out of business. So many people thought the real store was closing that the owners had to place ads explaining that they were still open.

James Gandolfini said that he was often contacted by real-life "wise guys" complimenting him on the authenticity of the series as well as giving him advice.

To settle salary disputes after Season Four, James Gandolfini gave each cast member $33,333 from his own pocket.

There was no improvisation on set. The scripts were followed verbatim, and any possible change was discussed with David Chase first.