Steven Van Zandt reveals the violent scenes on ‘The Sopranos’ that troubled him

Steven Van Zandt has reflected on the most difficult moments he faced while filming HBO’s acclaimed crime drama The Sopranos.

Speaking to People at a Feb. 26 event hosted by the Museum of the Moving Image alongside series creator David Chase, the actor and musician revealed that two episodes in particular were the hardest for him to shoot — both involving violence that clashed with his personal values.

Van Zandt, who portrayed Silvio Dante, the loyal right-hand man to Tony Soprano, said the season three episode “University” was one of the most challenging. 

The episode centers on the brutal killing of Tracee, a young pregnant woman.

“It was one of the two hardest episodes for me, you know, because of the violence,” the 75-year-old said.

The other episode that weighed even more heavily on him was season five’s “Long Term Parking,” in which Silvio kills Adriana La Cerva, played by Drea de Matteo.

“Then the hardest one was Adriana, killing Drea,” Van Zandt said. “I really hate bullies and putting your hands on a girl; it really bothers me.”

He added that he finds men who beat women “disgusting and repulsive,” explaining that performing those scenes required him to override his own instincts.

“You gotta really act in those moments,” he said. “And draw on, ‘Okay, this guy would do this and so I gotta do it.’ Those are the hard moments, when you're really going against your natural instincts.”

Despite the emotional difficulty, Van Zandt said he trusted the strength and consistency of the show’s writing throughout its run from 1999 to 2007.

“The writing was just so good and so incredibly consistent,” he said. “You’re not consciously doing anything, you’re just kind of being that guy in that moment, doing that script. Whatever’s required, you just do it.”

In a lighter moment, Van Zandt joked about audiences finding him believable as a mob enforcer.

“The whole country found this half-a-hippie guitar player to be a convincing gangster,” he said with a laugh.

Van Zandt starred on the groundbreaking series alongside James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco and Tony Sirico.