Cleaver (The Sopranos)

Cleaver is a fictional film created within the world of the HBO series *The Sopranos*, where it becomes a major plot point late in the show. While viewers see almost none of the actual movie, the characters spend several seasons planning and making it. The main tension comes from how Christopher Moltisanti, a mobster in the series, pours real, secret details about his own crime family into the film’s story. Originally called *Pork Store Killer*, *Cleaver* is a direct-to-DVD mix of mafia and horror, described as “Saw meets the Godfather II,” “the Ring meets The Godfather,” and “a story of a young man who goes to pieces, then manages to find himself again.” J. T. Dolan wrote the screenplay based on a story by Christopher Moltisanti. Morgan Yam directed, and Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. and Moltisanti produced it. The cast includes Jonathan LaPaglia as Michael “the Cleaver” and Daniel Baldwin as mob boss Salvatore “Sally Boy.” Sally Boy’s main advisors are played by George Pogatsia (Frankie) and Lenny Ligotti (Nicky). Moltisanti and Lupertazzi once tried to cast Ben Kingsley as the mob boss in the episode “Luxury Lounge,” but he turned them down. The main character, Michael, is called “the Butcher.” When Christopher pitches the idea to writer J. T. Dolan, he describes it as a story about a young wise guy and assassin who gets betrayed by his own people. They kill him and dump his body parts in dumpsters around the city. He is then put back together—by science or something supernatural—and gets revenge on everyone who wronged him, including his fiancée, who was sleeping with his boss the night he was killed. Several parts of the film come from Christopher’s own life as a made man in the Soprano family, especially a blown-up rumor that his boss, Tony Soprano, was having an affair with Christopher’s fiancée, Adriana La Cerva. The movie ends with a close-up of a crucifix and a cornicello, putting “the sacred and the propane” side by side. Christopher met J. T. Dolan when both were in rehab for heroin addiction. In the episode “In Camelot,” their friendship gets complicated when Christopher introduces Dolan to high-stakes poker games, giving the writer a new outlet for his addictive personality. Dolan quickly ends up $60,000 in debt and returns to rehab at Christopher’s urging.