The Marvel director you forgot had a cameo in The Sopranos

Over the course of six seasons, “The Sopranos” delivered some incredible performances, which makes it even easier to forget some of the supporting talent who briefly transitioned into cameos and became massive stars. David Chase's short-lived televised crowd-pleaser featured would-be “The Wire” star Michael K. Williams, would-be Riddler Paul Dano and even Lady Gaga (although she may not be a fan of the performance herself). However, one appearance that might stand out more than the others is that of actor, director and co-architect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jon Favreau.

The director of “Iron Man” and “Iron Man 2” plays an exaggerated version of himself after Christopher Moltissanti (Michael Imperioli) is invited to one of Favreau's films. After helping rewrite the scene, Favreau becomes interested in Christopher's lifestyle when he learns about his mob connections and grabs an anecdote to include in one of his scripts, much to Chrissy's dismay. While his appearance on the show is brief, Favreau plays a pivotal role, further complicating Christopher's struggle with bonding with his family and his hunger for a better life outside of the mob. For Favreau, it was an experience he relished as part of one of the most groundbreaking television shows of all time. As it turns out, he even auditioned for the show in a similar way to how Christopher auditioned for his fictional TV series, except his contribution carried much less risk of getting punched.

It's safe to say that no one knows Jon Favreau better than Jon Favreau, so when it came to sharing the screen with Christopher Moltisanti's character, he had some advice for “The Sopranos” creator David Chase on what to do. the situation. Talk to the fan on Reddit in 2013Favreau recalled the experience, saying, “I was really honored that David Chase asked me to be on The Sopranos. I wanted to make sure that when I portrayed myself, I didn't play it too cool, because if the real Jon Favreau met the real Sopranos, he would not feel very comfortable at all.

The would-be “Elf” director suggested taking a different route and playing things up a bit for laughs. “The original script I got told me to play it as if I was one of the guys. I had told David that I wanted to be very uncomfortable and scared, because although everyone loves the romantic idea of ​​gangsters, if you ever met them in real life in real life, it could be extremely unpleasant.” This takes the form of a fake Faverau before he rescues Christopher and takes his story with him.

Coincidentally, it also wouldn't be the only time Tony Soprano's cousin would run into someone who played Tony Stark's sidekick in the MCU: Christopher was also turned down by the man who played Trevor Slattery.

Before being was killed off in season 6 after a car accident, not someone else on “The Sopranos” (right, Ton'?), Christopher tried to show his horror mobster to “Cleaver” acting legend Ben Kingsley, who plays Trevor Slattery in the film. Appeared as himself in the MCU and the show. It goes about as well as you'd expect, once again showcasing the show's excellent way of having comedy in a mostly dark and corrupt world. It also marked a brilliant turnaround for Kingsley, who at this point was enjoying success in the British crime drama Sexy Beast, which reinvented the actor and gave us one of the best performances of his career. By the end of the “Luxury Lounge” episode, they end up having an awkward encounter, with Kingsley dismissing what could have been one of the funniest F-bombs on the entire show.

Fortunately, the Oscar winner's presence was actually much more welcoming, according to Ray Abruzzo, who played Carmine Lupertazzi Jr. on the show. During the performance podcast, Abruzzo spoke highly of Kingsley and his time on set “The Talking Sopranos” directed by Imperioli and co-star Steve Schirripa. “I remember walking down the hall before we (went) in and him massaging my shoulders.” As for Abruzzo, it was just another actor having fun. I loved these scenes. He was great.