Michael Imperioli Asked a Witch to Help Get Spike Lee’s ‘Summer of Sam’ Greenlit

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
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Michael Imperioli enlisted a little supernatural help a la “Bewitched” to get “Summer of Sam” greenlit.

The “Sopranos” star co-wrote the script for the film based on real-life serial killer David Berkowitz AKA the Son of Sam, who terrorized New York in 1977. “Summer of Sam” was co-written and directed by Spike Lee, with both Imperioli and Lee having cameos in the film, which was released in 1999. Mira Sorvino, Adrien Brody, Jennifer Esposito, and John Leguizamo also starred.

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In a clip from upcoming documentary “Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel (and Other Rock & Roll Stories),” directed by Danny Garcia, Imperioli recalled asking a “witch” for assistance to get the film made while living at the hotel. Imperioli moved in at age 29.

“The Chelsea is a very mythical place,” Imperioli says in the clip (via Variety). “Especially if you’re an artist in New York, it looms very large, and the idea of living here seemed not really possible.”

He continued, “I had just begun writing ‘Summer of Sam’ with Victor Colicchio — we wrote that script together. I really wanted to get it made. So I met somebody who was living here who was a witch, who said she could help me get it made, but it wasn’t going to happen the way I thought it would. I was very ambitious at the time and wanted to get that made, so [I] resorted to tapping into otherworldly means to get it through the studio system.”

Imperioli also shared a ghost story while at the Chelsea.

“I saw a ghost here,” the “White Lotus” star said. “Some people may think that I’m insane and it’s bullshit or whatever. But I’m not the only person who has seen this apparition of a woman, apparently from the late 19th century, whose soon-to-be husband died on the Titanic. She came from upstate or something and was waiting for him here, and when she found out what happened to him, she killed herself.”

Imperioli is furthering his screenwriting resume with an upcoming film with “The Sopranos” creator David Chase. “Yeah, we’re writing a movie together right now for me and Steve Schirripa. It’s a mystery project,” he said. “I can’t talk about it beyond that. David and I are writing it together. I can’t say what it’s about.”

Imperioli also confirmed that fellow “Sopranos” alum Steve Schirripa will be co-starring.

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