The Sopranos: David Chase and mobster Johnny Sack on how they made a TV classic

Fox turned down the first draft because I didn't put any murders in it. People watch mob shows because they like to see murders'

I was still writing the pilot episode when Steven Van Zandt - who would go on to play strip-club owner and second-in-command Silvio Dante - came to read for the part of Tony Soprano. I thought: With Steven, it could be more like The Simpsons: more comedy, less nasty bits, more absurd." But once we hired Jim Gandolfini for Tony, it all went back to where it started.