In Paramount+’s latest crime-drama series Tulsa King from creator Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone) and writer Terence Winter (The Sopranos), Sylvester Stallone stars as New York mafia head Dwight “The General” Manfredi. After 25 years in prison, Manfredi is released to a changed world and discovers there’s no longer a place for him in his old stomping grounds. When his family sends him to Tulsa, Oklahoma with the promise of territories ripe for the picking, Manfredi must build up new alliances and establish himself among the criminal underworld of the south. Emmy Award-winning actress Dana Delany plays wealthy equestrian Margaret, and Max Casella (The Sopranos) plays Armand Truisi, an old associate of Manfredi’s who’s now working for the Invernizzi family.
In their interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Delany and Casella explain the process of filming a “hybrid show” with creator Sheridan and writer Winter and share a behind-the-scenes look at how production worked on the series. Both of them reveal a little more about each of their characters and talk on the shifting tones of the show, as well. You can watch our interview in the video above, or read the full transcript below. For more on Tulsa King, check out Collider’s review by Nate Richard.
DANA DELANY: Well, this is a hybrid show because Taylor and Terry Winter both did the pilot script. So it’s a great combination of the Taylor ethos of the West, and manly men, and danger, and family. But then you have Terry, who’s got more of a New York sensibility. And you have [Sylvester Stallone] who brings some humor to it. So it’s an interesting hybrid, which works with the fish-out-of-water story.
MAX CASELLA: Exactly.
One of the things I found with the episodes is that it can be serious and at other times it has a really fun tone. I wasn’t expecting that.
CASELLA: I think in any good show, if it’s a drama, you would have comedic elements to it. Like Sopranos could be hysterically funny.
DELANY: Yes.
CASELLA: I think you’d want that, to have both of those things.
DELANY: Like life.
CASELLA: … like life. I mean, life is a comedy that ends in a tragedy, as they say.
DELANY: That’s true.
Because no one has seen the show yet, what have you been telling friends and family about your character?
DELANY: I just say she’s a horse lady because that’s how we see her from the beginning. She really likes horses. As it progresses, there’s more going on than we realize there and there’s maybe some plotting going on that she’s not what she seems. So it’s like any great drama, it’s not what you expect.
CASELLA: Armand is someone that knew Dwight for decades. I used to work for Dwight, I ran the sports book for the Invernizzi family that Dwight was a capo in. He was always a very intimidating boss, he was Armand’s boss. Armand’s responsible for a murder that Dwight commits that sends him to prison for 25 years.
Now I’m living in Tulsa, hiding out there. My wife doesn’t know anything about my mafia background. It all comes to pieces when Dwight suddenly, unexpectedly shows up in Tulsa one day. I can imagine he’s only there to kill me because I’ve been looking over my shoulder for the last 19 years. I don’t realize that he’s been exiled there to set up a crew there and to plant the flag for the Invernizzis back home. I think he’s there to kill me.
For soon-to-be fans of the series, what do you think they might be surprised to learn about the actual making of the show behind the scenes?
CASELLA: Behind the scenes, it was pretty much a pleasure cruise. I mean, it was a joy to be at work every day. I mean, I’ve been on a gazillion shows, so has Dana, obviously. This one was really… The vibe was fantastic.
DELANY: Yeah, I got to say it was very well produced. There was no wasted time. The way they shoot shows now is [there are] two-episode blocks so that you could fly in for your two episodes and then fly out again. So I was very impressed by that. I’ve never been on a show that was so well-produced in that way.
CASELLA: Yeah, we did two at a time. So month one would be Episode 1 and 2. That was in April-
DELANY: With one director.
CASELLA: With one director, one crew. Then the 3-4 would be Block 2. That would be a different director, not all different crew, but-
DELANY: Different DP.
CASELLA: … different department heads and stuff like that.