Photography Qian Jun

I believe every movie fan has seen The Godfather, and quite a few people regard it as their first masterpiece. They have watched it more than twenty or thirty times, and they know all the details and lines by heart.

But for a movie like The Godfather, just watching it may not be enough.

Because the greatness of the godfather is inseparable from its production process.

Yes, in fact, any movie is more than the movie itself. It includes the whole process from conception to shooting, and the process of being understood and accepted by critics and audiences later. The ups and downs of its reputation are also a part of its life.

The rest is the history of movies.

John ford said that when facts become legends, write them down.

The following story may not be all true, but it must be a legend.

Text | magasa 1

Mario puzo is a hopeless gambler. The financial situation of this Las Vegas frequent visitor is always in deficit, and he has been chased by creditors for most of his life.

Mario Puzo

1one day in March, 968, the fat man stood shivering outside Robert Evans's office door, feeling uneasy. Evans is the production director of Paramount Studio. He is less than forty years old and is famous for his handsomeness. As the son of a dentist, he has a pair of ivory-white teeth. Hollywood women are proud of his bed, but he never remembers their names.

Robert Evans

Pu Zuo finally got an interview with Evans. He brought an outline of a novel and hundreds of pages of unfinished manuscripts. The title was originally called Mafia. If he can't sell the manuscript smoothly, someone will break his arm.

Paramount's competitors are only Universal. Evans took the manuscript and was not interested in reading it. He sold it directly to Pu Zuo for $65,438+02,500. He was given an office and a secretary, and told to finish his book as soon as possible. If a publisher wants it, pay him 60 thousand. Pu Zuo got the money and left happily.

In the late 1960s, Paramount was owned by the Gulf+West Consortium. Gulf+Western, led by Charlie Brudorn, mainly produces sugar and cigars in Central America. Brudorn is interested in movies, but in terms of profit, Paramount's contribution only accounts for a fraction of the whole group.

The president of the studio is Stanley Jaffe, a promising young man from a film family. Under the leadership of Jaffe, the production director and his deputy are Robert Evans and Peter Bart respectively. Several blockbusters were released one after another two years ago, which made Paramount surpass the world and become the top studio in Hollywood at that time.

In the eyes of paramount employees, these leaders are a group of megalomaniacs, or "the Manson family in Hollywood".

Wyndell dichinson in Owl City.

The Manson family had a soft spot for gangster movies, but the main popular movies at that time were Jewish gangster movies, and everyone knew nothing about Italian gangster movies. At this moment, Paramount's wyndell dichinson in Owl City, directed by martin ritt and starring Kirk Douglas, suffered a disastrous box office, and Paramount lost the motivation to contact gangster films again.

Unexpectedly, mario puzo's novel, renamed The Godfather, was expensive as soon as it was published in bookstores in March. 1969. It sold/kloc-0.00 million hardcover copies and/kloc-0.00 million paperback copies. Paramount knew that there was a pie in the sky and decided to start shooting the film version of The Godfather immediately, but still wanted to spend only two or three million dollars.

The godfather and his three sons

Producer Albert Rudy said: "Paramount won't be too disappointed if The Godfather falls off the bestseller list." It was not until Universal Pictures reappeared and offered 6.5438+0 million yuan to buy the adaptation right of The Godfather that Paramount realized that this was by no means a small business.

Puzo was asked to participate in the adaptation, and Paramount asked him to add contemporary background and hippie elements to the script, which was more popular with young people. In Puzo's mind, The Godfather is actually a family story, but this family happens to be engaged in criminal activities, so it can't be said that it is a crime movie. Their criminal organization happens to be a family.

The Godfather is to express doubts about many people's blind superstition of American values. In the late 1960s, when novels and movies were born, people's distrust of the whole social and political system was reflected in the works by the incompetence and inaction of the government. For example, at first, a person shouted "I believe in America", but he couldn't get the justice of the law and had to turn to the mafia for help.

Al Pacino and francis ford coppola.

Evans found that most of the experienced gangster film directors at that time were Jewish, so I'm afraid they couldn't handle the Italian godfather. Costa Gavlas, Peter Yates, Peter bogdanovich and other old and new directors refused the invitation one after another. Who are you looking for as a director? Then Bart suggested looking for francis ford coppola, who just turned 30. He wrote about him when he was a reporter in the new york Times a few years ago.

Evans looked at Coppola's resume: "Now You Grow Up", which is a posh art film; The Rainbow in Phoenix is a Broadway musical, but he screwed it up. "Rain clan", no one said it was ... Well, let him try, because he is Italian.

The Rain People

Coppola is a graduate of UCLA. When he was still at school, he worked for roger corman, the godfather of B-movies. Now that you have grown up, he handed in his graduation thesis, which is MFA. He wrote many plays, and at that time he was mainly famous as a screenwriter. Unexpectedly, Bart found it more difficult to persuade Coppola to direct The Godfather than to persuade Evans.

Coppola has always claimed to be an artist and has no interest in adapting bestsellers. Like other "movie boys" of that era, he likes the New Wave and Ferini, and the godfather is exactly what he has been trying to avoid. Evans doesn't understand: "You didn't even ask you to make an animated film, so you refused to make The Godfather?" ? 」

《THX 1 138》

Coppola's good friend george lucas was editing THX. Coppola asked him when he answered the phone, "Should I take this film?" Lucas looked up and said, "You have no choice. We owe money to others. 」

Coppola's debt is certainly not due to gambling. His American peep show company owes Warner $600,000. He founded the American peep show, which provided a home and creative incubator for all artistic film directors who hated the Hollywood system, and they were free to shoot their own works.

This naive idea caused him to be heavily in debt before his career really started. For Coppola, it is secondary to shoot the godfather or not, even whether he is in debt or not. The most important thing for him is to see his ideal of fighting Hollywood shattered? If we can't be godfathers.

So Coppola finally agreed to Paramount's irresistible proposal.

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Coppola soon discovered that filming The Godfather was definitely the best "Hollywood Fight" experience he could find. The casting battle of The Godfather is a typical conflict between "Old Hollywood" and "New Hollywood". At first, burt lancaster wanted to play Corleone, the godfather, because he thought this role was a continuation of his role as Prince Salina in Leopard. Lancaster condescended to agree to audition for the role of Corleone. Evans, they have almost chosen Lancaster, but Coppola has other plans.

leopard

He has two candidates in mind, laurence olivier or Marlon Brando. But Oliver was ill, which left Brando. In fact, the choice of Brando was originally suggested by Pu Zuo, because Corleone didn't have much playing time. He needed the actor to have a quiet power to dominate the overall situation, and this power was exactly Brando's. But 46-year-old Brando is a little young to play old Corleone, which is not the main problem.

The main problem is that the former emperor superstar and Oscar winner ended up like a street rat in Hollywood. The heads of all the studios shook their heads when they heard his name. Who doesn't know that he and everyone in the crew are in the same boat? Who doesn't know that he infected half the girls in Tahiti with sexually transmitted diseases while filming mutiny on the bounty? Who doesn't know that in recent years, he has acted in a movie and smashed another one, which is a bad box office poison?

The mutiny on the bounty (1962)

Coppola was severely warned many times not to mention the name Brando at the Paramount high-level meeting. However, he made up his mind that the godfather role must be Brando. In the end, Evans and others were softened and reached an agreement with him: he would not pay Brando in advance; If Brando has any behavior that hinders the progress during the filming, leave here immediately; Must audition.

With these conditions, Coppola nervously walked into Brando's home. He chatted with the former superstar one by one, and then said, let's take one or two pictures casually to see if the equipment is normal. Brando knew that he wanted the role more than Coppola wanted him. He prepared a surprise for Coppola. He stuffed two cotton balls into his mouth to make his cheeks bulge like a bulldog. He combed his hair back and painted it with shoe polish. At this moment, the "godfather" stood in front of him, and Coppola knew that his persistence was not in vain.

The Godfather

But how to convince Paramount people is a problem. Coppola and producer Albert Rudy cunningly arranged the scene of Brando auditioning among many spectators, and showed it to Stanley Jaffe, Robert Evans and others. Evans really didn't recognize it, saying that this person is good and looks like an Italian. Who is he?

After that, Coppola took the upper route and went directly to the big boss Brudorne to watch the audition video. After watching only a few shots, Bruden shouted in English with an Austrian accent, "No, we can't have crazy people. But when he saw Brando make his skin slack and shrivel like a deflated balloon, he shouted excitedly, "This man is great! Coppola finally got what he wanted.

Poisonous sea mandarin duck

This is more difficult than persuading Paramount to accept Brando and Al Pacino as Michael Corleone. Brando is notorious, but at least he is a "name". Pacino, who has heard of this name? Paramount wanted robert redford, Ryan O'Neal, Allen Delong and Warren Beatty, the most popular young stars at that time. But Coppola saw pacino's Poisonous Mandarin Duck and left a deep impression.

Pacino was very nervous before meeting Coppola for the first time. He paced back and forth on the carpet outside Coppola's workshop until he stepped on a sign. He is afraid to look up when talking to people. How will the lion roar in the future? It seems that this introversion has further moved Coppola, who, like Brando, insisted on pacino's candidate. Paramount has no choice but to follow it.

The Godfather

Who knows that pacino signed a contract with MGM to make another gangster film, but MGM refused to let him go. This can't beat Evans. He called Sidney Kosak, a well-known labor lawyer and Hollywood mastermind, and asked him for help.

Kosak called Kirk Cauquelin, MGM's big boss. After a while, the phone on Evans' desk disappeared. MGM's people said, "Now the dwarf is yours. Evans asked Kosak, "How did you do it? Kosak said, "I just told Corcoran that the MGM hotel you built in Las Vegas still wants to be finished? 」

Coppola, Woody Allen, martin scorsese

Some small characters in The Godfather are chatting at the dinner table of martin scorsese's family. Coppola and Scorsese met at the sorrento Film Festival in 1970. He found that this little man with a big beard was a living encyclopedia of movies, and he talked about all kinds of ambitions and subtle opinions about movies all the time. They hit it off.

Coppola often goes to his parents' home in Scorsese, new york, learning Italian accent from his father and listening to his mother's bizarre advice. For example, she thought that there should be a role of Richard Conte in this film, and Coppola accepted it without thinking.

Mario puzo likes to adapt the script with Coppola, not only because the boy knows the structure of the script but he doesn't, but also because they both like eating and cooking. But there are several key scenes in the script written by robert towne (a screenwriter in Chinatown), such as the final handover of two generations of godfathers in the garden. Coppola asked Downey, "Do you want an autograph? Donnie smiled and said, "I wrote so many fucking games." What do I need to sign? "? If you win the Oscar, remember to thank me. 」

The composer Coppola chose nino rota, who was born in Milan and had many cooperations with Ferini.

Coppola is unconventional and doesn't want professional extras. He wants amateur and real, which drives Paramount crazy. It is said that amateurs are definitely cheap, but unskilled actors are bound to waste more shooting time, which will cost hundreds of thousands for an extra day. But this time Coppola won again.

In order to save money, Puzo changed the script background to the 1970s at the behest of Paramount, and all Paramount wanted was a medium production. But Coppola persuaded them to go back to the forties and fifties and go to Sicily to shoot several scenes of great significance to the whole film.

Bonnie and Clyde

Ever since Coppola was selected, he has gone against Paramount's wishes almost everywhere. Why did Coppola, who talked lightly, almost win? Why is Paramount so tolerant of a young director?

This kind of thing can't happen in the golden age of studio system, and it can't happen today. It can only be the myth of the intersection of the sixties and seventies. These young films Bonnie and Clyde and the Graduate and Easy Rider shocked Hollywood. Conservative die-hards thought that time was running out and were wiped out by the impact of new forces.

To some extent, the godfather, like Bonnie and Clyde, graduates and Easy Rider, challenged patriarchy from the beginning, distrusted family and order, and wanted to go his own way. However, Michael in The Godfather finally returned to his father's path, and this trend of reconciliation and conservatism became an unintentional prediction of the ending of a generation of "New Hollywood"-Coppola, Scorsese, Lucas and Spielberg all embraced Hollywood and buried their brilliant dreams when they were young.

three

Many scenes of The Godfather were shot in new york, and the cast members were honed by Sidney matt, Arthur Pan and elia kazan. What scenes have you not seen? Many people think Coppola is too indecisive and needs someone to push him forward.

Coppola overheard the crew scold him on the set, but he didn't dare to make any noise until he left. The rehearsal time is too long every day, which leads to the backward shooting progress. He stayed up late every night to revise the script, and kept revising it during the day. The actor was informed and came to the set. As a result, he did not call. This happens every day.

The godfather's work photo

Photographers Gordon Willis and Coppola have different attitudes towards the use of actors. Coppola was deeply influenced by drama, and he was too proud of his actors. He thinks they should not be treated as machines, but should be encouraged to play freely. Willis believes that Coppola used to be a grassroots team and had no formal filming experience. Coppola is in a hurry to catch up with the progress, and Willis sometimes has a slow layout and quarrels when they disagree with each other.

Willis went back to the nanny's car and refused to come out. Coppola said, let's shoot it ourselves. He said to photographer Michael Chapman, Now you are in charge. Chapman turned and ran into the bathroom and locked the door. Coppola realized that the photography team didn't listen to him at all.

The godfather's work photo

The samples sent to Paramount executives initially made them angry. Willis deliberately filmed it very dark, especially in indoor scenes. His low-key light often makes the audience unable to see people's faces clearly. After watching the scene where the old godfather saw the body of his eldest son Sonny, Evans said, "Coppola is a big fool. He doesn't know how to make Brando play well. This is the worst scene I have ever seen in my life. 」

Pacino's performance a few days ago was not satisfactory. The editor found Evans and complained that Coppola couldn't cut it because he didn't know what Lianxi was. So in the early stage of the filming process, Coppola was on the verge of being replaced, and there were rumors that Kazan was ready to replace him at any time.

barton

However, Coppola has just won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for General Patton, and Paramount dare not act rashly. Brando also promised him that if Coppola was fired, he would resign. If there are frequent personnel changes after the boot, Paramount will not be worth the loss, so Coppola will be spared.

His cooperation with Brando was so pleasant that even Brando's old habit of not remembering his lines was used to it. Brando said that reading the cue board didn't actually hurt the performance, but it also helped me improvise.

The Godfather

The film took 100 days and used a lot of material. Two editors were used, of which william raynolds was in charge of the first half and Peter Kinner was in charge of the second half. Coppola urged to finish editing in his studio in San Francisco, and Paramount was very reluctant. Paramount also hoped that the length of the film would not exceed 135 minutes, so Coppola decided carefully. He severely cut off a lot of essence and cut a short version. Paramount people watch, why is the essence gone? Coppola added it all back, and the last movie lasted nearly three hours.

Modern film marketing began with The Godfather. Because the novel continues to sell well, the filming of the movie with the same name has also become a much-anticipated event. Paramount pays attention to keeping the exposure of the shooting process and keeping the godfather in public view at all times. During the filming process, many Italian-Americans protested that the film would distort the image of Italians and constitute propaganda. Besides, what about Brando's comeback after years of silence? All these have given the godfather the basis for selling well.

French drug trafficking network

But its director Coppola always felt that he was facing extinction. When The Godfather was nearing completion, he went to see his friend William Fridkin's new film French Drug Trafficking Network, which is an unconventional police crime film. After watching it, the editing assistant who went with him praised the skill of the film, and Coppola said gloomily, "I feel like I'm going to fail." I shot a vulgar popular novel. The terrible thing is that I shot a bunch of people sitting in a dark room and chatting endlessly. " The assistant replied, "I think so. 」

The distribution strategy of The Godfather changed the routine practice of Hollywood, set off a blockbuster frenzy in the next decade, and finally buried the ideals of New Hollywood and Coppola. Before The Godfather, the film was screened from the first round to the second round, and then to the third round, with a certain interval between each round. However, "The Godfather" set a precedent for a large-scale premiere. Paramount negotiated with the cinema and said that anyone who wanted to show The Godfather had to pay $80,000 in advance. As a result, 25-30 million had been recovered before the premiere. Moreover, Paramount took 90% of the account in the first 12 week, and then tilted to the cinema in 12 week.

The Godfather

1On March 5th, 972, The Godfather premiered in new york. Although it snowed late, the queue in front of the ticket office stood for several blocks. A total of 3 16 cinemas are showing, and the ticket price is set at $4, while ordinary movies are $3. Soon the number of cinemas will increase by more than 50, which is still in short supply. All the reviews praised the film almost overwhelmingly as a perfect combination of art and business.

Coppola was writing a play in Paris. From the decision to the filming of The Godfather, his self-esteem as an artist was deeply hurt. He has no expectations for this film. His friend called him and told him that the film was very popular. He said, "Well, that's not bad," and then he buried himself in writing a book.

Robert Evans later told Time magazine: "Making box office blockbusters has become the latest art form in the 20th century. When he said this, there was no great white shark and Star Wars.

four

Before the godfather was born, the genre of gangster movies was dying, and everyone thought it was finished. It was Coppola who revived the gangster film and pushed it to an epic new direction. No matter how cruel and bloody, or the power of social and political criticism, it has reached an unprecedented height of this type.

Little Caesar

The history of gangster movies is different from that of most Hollywood movies. It seems to have sprung up suddenly in the early 1930s. Three of the most successful gangster films set the prototype for this type of film, namely Little Caesar, Public Enemy and Horror Face. These films promote the arrogance of gang members and show the dark side of city life. However, due to the threat of censorship and the destruction of other external forces, Hollywood studios had to make adjustments in the mid-1930s.

Law enforcement strongman

The confrontation between police and bandits became the main theme later. James cagney and Edward G. Robinson turned themselves into policemen to restore order in the movie Iron Man in Law Enforcement. Their roles are still strong, arbitrary and cynical, which is to some extent the personality characteristics of gangsters before copying. The gangster movies in the classical period are very close to western movies. Although the story is set in cities and wilderness, whether it is a closed reinforced concrete jungle or an endless horizon, it is a domestication of natural wildness.

Police gangster films have evolved into many sub-categories, such as organized underworld films, police gangster films, crime films and so on. Cagney-style solitary bandits almost disappeared in the 1940s, and were replaced by urban realism and concern for organized crime. The Godfather describes the structure and system of organized crime in detail, and puts a criminal family in an ever-changing era to observe its transformation.

The Godfather

Vito, the old godfather, upholds the righteousness of the Olympic spirit and does something different; After that, Sonny was impulsive and violent during the transition period, believing that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; Finally, it was not until Michael regained his position with Machiavelli's shrewdness and forbearance. The difference between Michael and Sonny is that Sonny's behavior is out of personal revenge, and Michael has long known that everything, including murder and marriage, is some form of transaction.

It was the emptiness in the post-Vietnam era that made the audience understand and forgive Michael for having to do that. Michael's powerlessness is the powerlessness of the audience. Michael won't end up as miserable as cagney and Robinson, but he will be old, tired and exhausted until he turns away from others.

Jesus!

Pu Zuo and Coppola would never have thought that the popularity of The Godfather had an impact on the underworld and even the police in reality. "Godfather" was originally a term invented by Puzo, and now the FBI also uses it to refer to gang bosses. Kissing the godfather's hand has become the official etiquette of some gangs, and "I will make him an offer he can't refuse" has become the gang's mantra. Henry hill, the prototype of the film Boy, claimed that he had never seen Scorsese's film, but he had seen The Godfather countless times.

1973 The Oscar was held on March 27th, and the godfather received ten nominations, but only three. Brando won his second best actor award, but he didn't go on stage in person, but sent an Indian girl to protest against the "knee injury incident" a month ago. Coppola lost the director award to Bob Ford of Karaoke, but he shared the best adapted screenplay award with Pu Zuo. He thanked everyone except Evans. He said he forgot, but he really remembered to thank robert towne.

Karaoke (1972)

Coppola's indifference to the godfather's unprecedented achievements did not last long, and he soon learned to enjoy success. He took Lucas into the Mercedes-Benz store in San Francisco and chose a Mercedes-Benz 600. He told the clerk, "Send the bill to Paramount." He baptized the car with champagne, and then took bogdanovich, Fridkin and other buddies, racing wildly on Sunset Avenue, shouting "Long live Hollywood! 」

Although Coppola only earned 1 10000 dollars, he earned 6% of the net profit of the film. Since then, his mailbox in San Francisco has often received a million-dollar check from Paramount, and it is logical to repay Warner's debt. He lives a life that suits his own value. He frantically buys real estate, toys, radio stations, magazines and helicopters.

Francis Ford Coppola

He is like a child sitting at a feast table. He didn't know which one to eat, so he ate it all. He became the most powerful director in Hollywood overnight, but he was not very skilled in how to control this power. It seems that he hasn't forgotten the dream of the peep show company, but he is not interested in reviving it in the way of the original communist farm.

He moved the company to a landmark and reopened it. The new American peep show is more like a traditional Hollywood studio. The front door is always bustling with suspicious people coming in and out. But for a long time after that, except for one or two films by Coppola and Lucas, there has been no filming.