By Faith Harvey
The Sopranos, an HBO Original television series from the 2000s, was named best show of all times by Rolling Stone magazine, and is HBO’s third most-watched show. UC Santa Barbara film alumnus James Hayman contributed to this groundbreaking show by directing an episode and offering the series a new style.
Hayman, a director and cinematographer, spoke at the Pollock Theatre last month after a screening of his Sopranos episode, hosted by the Film and Media Studies department. He conversed with Carsey-Wolf Center director Patrice Petro about the show and his work.
Hayman’s episode was the 12th episode in the fourth season of The Sopranos, titled “Eloise.” The episode follows the lives and travails of the Soprano family, who are connected to the New York Italian mob, many of whom are awaiting trial for their various crimes.
Hayman grew up in New Jersey in the late 1950s with a mom who was an avid movie watcher. “She loved melodramas and musicals, and I did too, even as a 7-year-old boy,” Hayman said, adding that the 1941 comedy film Sullivan’s Travels was the movie that inspired him to make films.
While in his second year studying photojournalism at Washington D.C.’s American University, Hayman was assigned to photograph President Richard Nixon during the 1973 Washington Summit with Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin.
“I was always into photography, I liked capturing human moments,” he said. But after jostling with photographers all trying to get the same photo of President Nixon, he realized he did not enjoy news photography. He preferred photographing east coast streets, art, and he preferred working with a group than a solo career. After transferring to UCSB in his junior year, Hayman began making movies with classmates and creating communities around the art of filmmaking.
Carsey-Wolf Center director Patricia Petro, left, and UCSB alum James Hayman during a conversation about Hayman’s career, education, and film and television directorial work.
“The UCSB Film department taught me the language of movies, and how the camera isn’t just a character in the movie, but how directing, editing, and music, tells a story. It gave me my basis for the craft,” Hayman said. After UCSB, Hayman went to New York University for filmmaking, and then traveled the world in the ‘70s and ‘80s to shoot photos in various regions, including Guatemala.
In the early ‘90s he began working as a cinematographer on the T.V. series “Northern Exposure.” On set he met David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos. Years later, Chase invited him to be a visiting director for an episode.
Hayman said he had been a fan of The Sopranos prior to the invitation, but knew being a guest director for such a successful and established show would require understanding the politics and set style of the show. “Being a visiting director is like crashing the dinner party,” he said.
The episode primarily focuses on Carmela, the Soprano mother and wife, as she falls into unrequited love with Furio, an Italian cousin of her husband’s. Furio suddenly moves back to Italy which sends Carmela into a depressive episode. Carmela also confronts the maturing of her daughter Meadow, who moves away to college and gets a New York apartment with her boyfriend and friends.
For the first time in the series, Carmela’s emotions and thoughts have an on-screen presence in many scenes where she is shown to be vulnerable, filmed crying, pondering, and yearning for what she never had.
A photo of actor Edie Falco from Hayman’s episode “Eloise,” when Carmela arrives to Furio’s vacant house. “I’m really proud of this shot, it tells a story without dialogue,” Hayman said.
With a background in cinematography, Hayman wanted to bring camera movement to his scenes. “The Sopranos has traditional coverage, with wide shots and over-the-shoulder shots,” Hayman said. “I had to adjust my directing while bringing my own style. Still, I felt very comfortable putting things in frame, using the space, and I added a lot of moving camera work to the episode that the show hadn’t previously explored.”
Sopranos scripts have comedic and tragic moments, especially in the episode Hayman directed. “ [Writer David] Chase’s balance of comedy and drama in the same breath is exquisite. Since I have worked in both genres, what is important to me is maintaining reality,” Hayman said.
He said that “Eloise” alludes to classic films such as the 1953 screwball comedy How to Marry a Millionaire, and Hitchcock’s Rebecca. “Carmela’s whole dream of life is derived from these movies: the romantic men, dreamy life as a woman in love,” Hayman said. “In this episode she realizes her life does not reflect the movies she admires most, leaving her hurt.”
Besides The Sopranos, Hayman has worked on the popular television shows House, Law & Order and Desperate Housewives. He became the executive producer on Ugly Betty, for which he won a Golden Globe, and which was also nominated for two Emmy Awards. Hayman today continues to work in photography and directing, and is active philanthropically in the non-profit Pack Essentials in New Orleans, where he resides to run the television show NCIS: New Orleans.
Faith Harvey is a third-year UCSB student, majoring in Communication studies and minoring in Professional Writing. She is a Web and Social Media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.