Cleaver (The Sopranos)

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Cleaver
Directed by	Morgan Yam
Screenplay by	J. T. Dolan
Story by	Christopher Moltisanti
Produced by	Carmine Lupertazzi Jr. Christopher Moltisanti
Starring	Jonathan LaPaglia Daniel Baldwin
Production company	Lone Wolves Productions
Release date	September 9, 2007 (2007-09-09)
Country	United States
Language	English

Cleaver is a metafictional film within a TV series that serves as a plot element toward the end of the HBO television drama series The Sopranos. Although very little film material is actually shown in the series, its planning and development are discussed at large throughout multiple seasons of the show. The extent to which character Christopher Moltisanti mixes confidential and personal information about the Soprano mob family into the story elements of Cleaver is the focal point throughout its development.

Cleaver —originally titled Pork Store Killer— can be categorized as a direct-to-DVD mafia-slasher film, described alternately as "Saw meets the Godfather II", "the Ring meets The Godfather", and "a story of a young man who goes to pieces, then manages to find himself again".^[1] Several characters are credited for their involvement in the project. The screenplay was written by J. T. Dolan and based on a story by Christopher Moltisanti. The film was directed by Morgan Yam, and produced by Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. and Moltisanti.

The film starred Jonathan LaPaglia as Michael "the Cleaver" and Daniel Baldwin as mob boss Salvatore ("Sally Boy"). Sally Boy's key advisors are played by George Pogatsia (Frankie) and Lenny Ligotti (Nicky). Initially, Moltisanti and Lupertazzi attempted to cast Ben Kingsley as the mafia boss in the episode "Luxury Lounge", but Kingsley turned the part down.