The Many Saints of Newark: Director Alan Taylor 'terrified' by new Sopranos film

A scene from The Many Saints of Newark. Photo / Supplied

The new Sopranos film is just days away from being released and, while fans of the seminal TV show will no doubt be looking forward to it, the moment will be huge weight off Alan Taylor's mind.

The director of The Many Saints of Newark is no stranger to the world of The Sopranos — having been at the helm of several episodes of the original series many moons ago.

But after directing two films that were panned by critics, the dive back into the mobster world for Taylor was one that was cathartic and daunting.

Ahead of the film's release this week, he told news.com.au the process was "terrifying from start to finish".

"This was partly because so many of the things that we loved about the show depended on some things that were no longer available," he said.

A scene from The Many Saints of Newark. Photo / Supplied

A big part of this was the loss of James Gandolfini who played Tony Soprano, in the original series, and passed away in 2013.

"There was a lot of anxiety about whether this film could be done, how you translate this show onto the big screen and how you translate a contemporary show into period," he said. "And how can you find somebody who can be as wrenching, charismatic and engaging as Jimmy was?"

He said it was "intimidating" for the actors in the film to step into the roles of characters who are still so well loved by Sopranos fans around the world.

But it was also a big deal for Taylor personally.

Working on the Sopranos had been his first job out of film school, and it became one of the greatest shows of all time. But his career didn't take off in the way that you might have expected it to.

His last two films, Terminator Genisys and Thor: The Dark World, had not been received well by critics or fans.

"I had some brutal experiences out in the film-making world," he said. "I had a couple of movies that were eaten up.