Cooper Raiff’s Cha Cha Real Smooth, a film about an unlikely friendship struck between two lost souls, was one of the best at Sundance. Along with his debut, Sh*thouse, Raiff is a filmmaker a lot of people are keeping an eye on to see what he does next. That would be The Trashers, a film he signed up for last year about the gangster who is said to have inspired Tony Soprano. And now today we’ve learned that Raiff has cast Stranger Things star David Harbour in the role.
Harbour will star in The Trashers as Jimmy Galante, the Danbury, Connecticut trash magnate and associate to the Genovese Crime Family. In 2004, Galante bought the Danbury Trashers, the city’s minor league hockey team and assigned his teenage son to run it, with the team becoming (in)famous for its rough ‘n tumble style of play. Of course, it was all a grift and Galante was eventually arrested and convicted on multiple fraud counts.
The script is by Billions writer Adam R. Perlman with Raiff having done revisions himself.
Again, many people have said that Tony Soprano was inspired by Galante’s story. There are similarities, from the waste management business they were both involved in, to the mob connection, and notably that both of their sons are named “A.J.”
Harbour will be seen next reprising his role as Jim Hopper in the upcoming season of Stranger Things. He also recently made his MCU debut in Black Widow as Red Guardian.
