Emmy-winning writer/producer Terence Winter (“The Sopranos,” “Boardwalk Empire”) certainly knows his way around the mob universe in New York and New Jersey. But how about Oklahoma? In Paramount +’s acclaimed new series “Tulsa King,” Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) has been banished by the New York mob after serving 25 years in prison to the Oklahoma metropolis where he must start earning money for the “family.”
“That was the appeal of the series,” said Winter in a recent Washington Post Zoom conversation. “The challenge of doing a mob show is trying to find a fresh way in.” Created by Taylor Sheridan of “Yellowstone” and “1883” fame, the series was originally set in Kansas City. “The idea was to try to put the character in a place that had absolutely no connection to the Italian American mafia,” noted Winter. “ Kansas City actually had a long and storied history with the Italian American mob. I thought, let’s try to find a place that’s even more obscure, the last place on Earth you’d think you’d find a mafioso, and for me, that felt like Oklahoma and more specifically, Tulsa.”
The metropolis is not only a mystery to Manfredi, it also was to Winter. So, when Winter started to write his version of the pilot, he booked a trip to the city and stayed at the Mayo Hotel where Manfredi makes his home in the series. Over a course of three days, Winter wandered around and talked to locals. “You may be able to tell I have a New York accent, I’m told. So, I was curious to see how people would react to me, but they couldn’t have nicer.” And so was the city. He soaked in the city with it’s “open skies and blue skies and kind of stumbled on some local attractions.”
Manfredi is total fish out of water in Tulsa. “He’s the kind of a guy who just got out of a time capsule. So, not only is he in a different place, that place is completely befuddling because there are things that he just doesn’t even understand. He doesn’t know what Uber is. He can’t believe that coffee costs $5 a cup. So. there’s a lot of things coming at this guy at the same time. He is also still required to earn a living and he’s got a very limited skill set in which to do that.” Manfredi, said Winter, is a kinder, gentler gangster than he was when he was sent to prison “but a gangster nonetheless in a place that has never seen anybody like him.”
Truth be told, “Tulsa King” is much more a dark comedy than a riveting crime drama. The first person Manfredi offers protection is the mild-mannered owner of a medical marijuana shop. “It’s a comedy borne of circumstance and reality of taking people who are very unlike each other and dropping them into a melting pot together,” said Winter. ‘It’s not like the traditional sitcom, set up a joke and pay it off. It’s really more about behavior and taking people who in a million years would never spend time with each other, having them occupy their world and seeing how a guy like Dwight negotiates his way through the day is sort of where the comedy is.”
And Stallone, who turned 75 during production, is all charm as Manfredi. “You get on board [with him] really quickly,’ said Winter. “You forgive him for a lot of bad behavior, especially when you realize what he’s been through. He’s been to jail and sacrificed so much. He’s trying to be a better person and it’s a lot easier to get behind somebody like that than just a one-note thug.”
Though Stallone is a septuagenarian, he remains “Rocky” fit and “Rambo” buffed. That fact wasn’t lost on Winter. “I was sitting with somebody the other day saying, ‘He could beat both of us up with one hand.’ He looks like he’s an in-shape 40-year. Really, it’s astounding to see.”
Knowing that Stallone was cast as Manfredi made it easier for Winter to craft the character. “I had his voice in my head,” said Winter. “I knew how smart he was in real life, how well read, how worldly, how funny, sarcastic.”
Stallone certainly saw the similarities between his real-life and reel-life characters. “He said when he read my version of the pilot ‘This fits me like a tailor-made suit. This is me. Aside from the gangster stuff, this is who I am. I am this 75-year-old man who has read a lot of books, has a lot of opinions and is still trying to figure out the world and make up for mistakes I’ve made in the past.’ That was the best compliment I could get.”
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