Commission in Southern New Jersey. This is where Christopher and Paulie try to "dispose" of what they assume is Valery's body. Cultural references The "bullshit" movie Christopher alludes to which deals with the Cuban Missile Crisis is Thirteen Days, released a year prior in 2000. Paulie likens Valery to Rasputin, a Russian mystic who was notoriously difficult to kill. When Paulie is tying on his makeshift shoe, Chris ironically likens him to Bruno Magli, the name of an Italian luxury shoe company. When Chris and Paulie are in the van, Chris remarks that Valery is trained and that it is like Die Hard. Production Director Tim Van Patten had dreamed about the idea of Paulie and Christopher getting lost in the woods during the production of season 2, and after discussing it with writer Terence Winter, presented the concept to David Chase who worked it into season 3. The forest scenes for the episode were filmed at Harriman State Park in New York after the production team was denied a permit to film in New Jersey at the South Mountain Reservation. Essex County executive James Treffinger said The Sopranos "depicts an ethnic group in stereotypical fashion". This is a fairly rare instance where the show did not depict an environment similar to the one suggested, as neither Harriman State Park nor South Mountain Reservation are ecologically or visually similar to the New Jersey Pine Barrens. There was an unexpected snowfall just before the shoot. Both the cast and the crew agreed that the snow added to the emotional effect of the episode. The interior of the truck was shot on a sound stage. The actors' freezing "breath" was added in CGI. Director Steve Buscemi successfully threw the steak at James Gandolfini's head in the scene of Tony's argument with Gloria Trillo; neither Annabella Sciorra nor the prop handlers had been able to hit Gandolfini. "Pine Barrens" took 12 days for shooting, setting a record for the longest episode shoot in The Sopranos at the time. The HBO documentary James Gandolfini: Tribute to a Friend (2013) includes an anecdote by Steve Schirripa about the shooting of the scene where Tony picks Bobby up at Junior's house. When they were shooting Tony's reaction to Bobby's hunting outfit, Schirripa surprised Gandolfini by entering the kitchen wearing a strap-on dildo. Tony's response and laughter, pointing at Bobby and then doubling over the sink, is