THE hardest thing Steve Van Zandt ever had to do on “The Sopranos” was kill a girl.
At the end of Season 5 of the famed mob opera, Silvio murdered FBI snitch Adriana La Cerva, memorably portrayed by Drea de Matteo. Even though Van Zandt had helped to kill Big Pussy (Vincent Pastore), this was the tougher assignment.
“Shooting somebody is one thing, but when you have to put your hands on a girl and drag her out of the car, it’s so despicable,” he says. “But you really had to be that guy in that moment. Drea was a tough chick on the show, but you put your hands on her and she’s still a girl.”
If there is anyone who doesn’t want “The Sopranos” to end, it’s Van Zandt. The owner of the Bada Bing and consigliere of Tony Soprano’s crew is looking for a spinoff. Call it “Silvio’s Place.”
“There are some actors, including Jimmy [Gandolfini], who want to move on,” Van Zandt says. “I don’t. I love this character. I would play him forever.”
No one was more surprised to get the call from show-creator David Chase. Van Zandt, 56, already had a storied career as a guitarist and producer for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. He had never acted before he was chosen to be on the mob drama. It was like being Alex in Wonderland.
“It was so ridiculous, one of those absurd Hollywood stories,” says Van Zandt. “I was inducting The Rascals into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and David was clicking around and saw me doing a comical induction. He said, ‘He might be great for the show.’ ”
Sensing that Van Zandt’s flair for comedy would add the right touch to “The Sopranos” was a prescient call on Chase’s part. With his snug suits, gold chains and male equivalent of the Eva Gabor wig, Silvio Dante was one of the show’s visual laugh riots.
“I really had to transform myself physically to even step out of the trailer,” he says. “I gained a bunch of weight. I wore clothes that were made by people who made clothes for the mob. When I looked in the mirror, I saw Silvio.”
When discussing his post-“Sopranos” life, Van Zandt, promises he won’t follow castmate Vincent Pastore onto “Dancing With the Stars.”
Instead, he plans to stay active with his musical interests. He has his own syndicated radio show, “Little Steven’s Underground Garage,” which plays indie rock ‘n’ roll on more than 200 stations in the U.S. (it’s WAXQ-FM, 104.3, in New York). Expect a Van Zandt record label, called Wicked Cool, to debut in May.
He sounds like a busy man, but none of it is likely to take the place of being a Made Man.
“I spent my life as an autobiographical songwriter. I spent 20 years learning about myself,” he says. ” ‘The ‘Sopranos’ is a wonderful escape. It’s like meditation. Instead of staring at a flower for an hour, I kill people.”