Christopher Meloni and Michael Gandolfini appear in Chop Cheese, the debut short from Sophia Meloni, which is set for a world premiere at Palm Springs International ShortFest later this month; an exclusive clip has been released ahead of the screening.
The short centers on 16‑year‑old Dante, played by Luca Rickman, and follows his small, escalating effort to claim respect on the streets of New York after a deli worker calls his best friend “boss.” Alongside Rickman the cast includes Anki Alvarez Marquez and Dylan Frankel as the teenage leads, with Mark Lake, Isabel Gillies, Lawrence Gilliard Jr. and Darrius Jones rounding out the adult roles.
Credit lines underline how personal the project is: Christopher Meloni is listed as “Other Bodega Guy,” and also took production assistant and occasional grip duties on the film. Sherman Williams — credited as “Crafty” and Meloni’s wife of 30 years — and Sophia’s brother Dante Meloni, who inspired the story, are both credited among the crew. Lisa Rudin produced Chop Cheese, and Sasha Waters served as animal wrangler. Michael Gandolfini and Mariska Hargitay receive a special thank you at the film’s end.
Meloni framed his participation as a proud family moment. “So, I guess the Melonis don’t particularly subscribe to the unwritten rule. Having said that, it was a beautiful honor to watch and be a part of a young artist that I happen to love deeply and admire greatly, take her first creative steps,” he said. He also balanced work on Dan Fogelman’s Hulu show The Land while supporting the short.
Sophia Meloni wrote the story in college, inspired by observing her younger brother’s teenage life in New York. “Growing up here, I learned the moments that shape you most often happen in the margins, waiting, loitering, the small rituals that repeat until they quietly become your life,” she said, adding that “the bodega felt like the perfect place to capture that.” Chop Cheese is the first in a planned series of shorts from Sophia.
The festival slot is the practical stake: Palm Springs offers a concentrated audience of critics, programmers and industry figures who decide quickly whether a short will travel through the festival circuit. A newly released clip, published ahead of the premiere, gives an early look at the film’s tone and the central bodega scene that drives Dante’s obsession.
The appearance of a well‑known television actor in a family project comes with a clear friction. Meloni joins Chop Cheese after his long‑running role on Law & Order: Organized Crime was canceled following more than a year off the air. That contrast — a major network franchise presence stepping into a homemade short — is part of what makes the Palm Springs screening worth watching: it folds a household name into a quietly domestic story and puts the result in front of a judgmental festival crowd.
What happens next is on the festival schedule. Chop Cheese will have its world premiere at Palm Springs International ShortFest later this month, and that first public hour will largely decide the film’s immediate trajectory and whether Sophia’s planned series gains momentum beyond this family circle.
