In a recent interview with David Chase about his new film, “Not Fade Away,” the conversation inevitably turned to “The Sopranos” and its infamous ending. Chase, the show’s creator, talked about watching the final episode:

I thought the episode itself might have been kind of a dud, but it wasn’t. I was proud of it. I was satisfied that we’d done something. What I didn’t understand was that the ending would be so talked-about that it would completely obliterate the rest of the episode

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David Chase, creator of “The Sopranos,” talked recently about the show’s controversial final episode. The Associated Press

Steven Ernest Echevarria

Helena Bonham

I think a lot of people thought they were being made a fool of (when the show abruptly closed with Tony sitting down to dinner with his family.) None of that was what was going on. That was the best ending I knew to come up with and I thought it said some things but people didn’t get it because they were angry. Or maybe it wasn’t executed well.

I do wish that connection had been made better. To me the question is not whether Tony lived or died, There was something else I was saying that was more important than whether Tony Soprano lived or died. About the fragility of all of it. The whole show had been about time in a way, and the time allotted on this Earth. Tony was dealing in mortality every day. He was dishing out life and death. And he was not happy. He was getting everything he wanted, that guy, but he wasn’t happy. All I wanted to do was present the idea of how short life is and how precious it is. The only way I felt I could do that was to rip it away. And I think people did get it.

Did Tony die or didn’t he die? Well, first of all, it really comes down to this: There was, what, six seasons of that show? Seven? Am I supposed to do a scene and ending where it shows that crime doesn’t pay? Well, we saw that crime pays. We’ve been seeing that for how many years? Now, in another sense, we saw that crime didn’t pay because it wasn’t making him happy. He was an extremely isolated, unhappy man. And then finally, once in a while he would make a connection with his family and be happy there. But in this case, whatever happened, we never got to see the result of that. It was torn away from him and from us. I forget my point.

(AP: That the meaning of the show didn’t have to be there in that final moment. It was there all along.)

Exactly. That’s what I felt. It’s really about time, to me — just to me — and love. What else do we have in this universe? It’s a cold universe. People said, “Oh, the show is so dark,” and it posited the notion that nobody ever changes.

Actor in ‘Scarface’ earns a jail mug

MIAMI – “Scarface” actor Steven Bauer has been arrested in the Miami area, accused of driving with a suspended license.

The 52-year-old Bauer’s real name is Steven Ernest Echevarria and he was booked into the Miami-Dade County Jail early Tuesday morning. It was not immediately known if he has an attorney.

His arrest report shows Bauer was stopped in Sweetwater for an improper left turn late Monday night. He was given a warning, but the officer ran his driver’s license and found a problem.

Bauer played Manny Ribera in the 1983 movie “Scarface” starring Al Pacino.

Distant cousin gives actress a connection

LOS ANGELES – Helena Bonham Carter apparently shares more with Victor Hugo than just a role in the film based on his novel.

A study by genealogy website Ancestry.com reveals Victor Hugo was a political colleague of a cousin of the 46-year-old actress. Carter stars as Madame Thenardier in the upcoming musical “Les Miserables.” The film is an adaptation of the stage musical based on Hugo’s 1862 book.

Ancestry.com says French financier and politician Achille Fould was Carter’s first cousin five times removed. He served with Hugo in the post-revolutionary French government in the 1840s. Fould was minister of finance; Hugo was in the constitutional and legislative assembly.

Fould was a staunch supporter of Louis Napoleon III. Hugo declared him a traitor.

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