AJ Soprano Hasn't Done Shit Since Sopranos Ended And Just A Friendly Remind That's Fucking Awesome

THR -  Reclusive Sopranos actor Robert Iler gave a rare interview in which he talked about his time working on the hit HBO series and shared some insight into his life post-acting, including personal struggles.

The 35-year-old has largely been out of the public eye since The Sopranos concluded in 2007, taking only a couple of minor acting jobs to avoid other work.

"After Sopranos, I told my manager I wanted six months off to go play poker and hang out with my friends and just do whatever," Iler told Imperioli and Schirripa." And he kept calling — 'It's been a year,' 'It's been two years.' The only thing I have done since Sopranos is I got called to do jury duty and I didn't want to do jury duty … so twice, to get out of jury duty, I did an episode of Law and Order."

We talk a lot about Sopranos in the Chicago office and rightfully so - it's one of the greatest shows of all time and that's not up for debate. Objectively, approximately 50% of Barstool Chicago employees have a religious-level devotion to the teachings of Tony Soprano and that's before we debate the merits of the show's final scene. Pound for pound it's so fucking good that you're forced to respect AJ's career retirement at 22 years old. If you're even remotely on the same spectrum of obsession as most normal fans, the entire article is well worth a read. There's some great points about Gandolfini's influence and the psyche of your first acting job registering with such historic force. 

Now naturally a lot of people are going to hate AJ's move and I want to be clear that those people fucking sucks. Everyone dreams of not working because working blows. Imagine graduating from college and having all of your life's work completed, with little or no need to get a job unless called to Jury Duty. For all the talk about the death of the American Dream, it's pretty obvious that AJ Soprano hasn't quit on that shit for one second. Him and the Olive Oil King, Frankie Munoz. Just a couple legendary 12 year olds that are smart enough to realize that most bullshit just isn't worth it. And similar to Joffrey Baratheon in that you're so well known in that role, it's virtually impossible to play any other character. 

So when you think about it - maybe taking your $10,000,000 and going home isn't too fucking shabby. Maybe we should scrap the American Dream love affair with white picket fences around spacious suburban homes and accept that the real crown in life is a little thing called Free Will. Granted in your twenties that mostly means just kicking it with the boys and smoking a ton of weed but that's more about nature vs. nurture. For now I think we can all agree AJ has it better than you with or without Grandma's Ziti. 

PS - We went heavy Sopranos earlier this month on Dog Walk breaking down the series and the last scene. Worth a listen if you don't hate our guts.