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“The Sopranos” creator David Chase warned in a new interview that political censorship in Hollywood could be on the horizon under President Donald Trump.
“Since Trump, I’ve been concerned it’s only a little big or a hop, skip and a jump up to censorship,” Chase told Variety while discussing upcoming projects this week at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic.
Chase, who created the Emmy-winning HBO mob drama that ran from 1999 to 2007, made the remark while discussing “Project: MKUltra,” an HBO series he is developing about the CIA’s Cold War-era mind control program, and a separate independent film he said would also deal with the drug LSD.
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The writer said he was not especially concerned about conspiracy theorists or right-wing commentators online driving backlash to the project, but about a future in which artists face political restrictions on what they can say.
Chase said he was concerned about creatives “being told you can’t say that, and you can’t do that.”
Chase agreed when Variety asked if his concerns amounted to fears of a modern-day Hays Code, the Hollywood censorship system that once dictated what could appear in films.
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“Exactly,” Chase said.
Chase compared his political concerns to his earlier years working in network television, when he said strict rules controlled even minor details of what could be shown on screen.
“I used to work on network television, and you couldn’t have a person burp on camera, you couldn’t show the toilet bowl, the gun going off, the person getting shot,” Chase said. “It was rules, rules, rules. And those are minor things. When you get to the political stuff, that concerns me.”
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Chase’s comments came as he returned to the international spotlight at Karlovy Vary, where festival organizers said he was appearing for an industry talk about the legacy of “The Sopranos,” streaming, financing, authorship and the importance of creative risks.
He also told Variety that he is independently working on a feature film “that deals with LSD,” saying the story involves “a young woman” who’s a college DJ.
The film would mark Chase’s first directorial feature since “Not Fade Away,” his 2012 coming-of-age drama. He also co-wrote and produced the 2021 “Sopranos” prequel film, “The Many Saints of Newark.”
Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office titled, “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship,” saying it was federal policy to protect constitutionally protected speech and prevent government officials from abridging Americans’ First Amendment rights.
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