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The groundwork had been laid for a long time before the bloodshed came.
The Godfather (1972)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola / Writer: Francis Ford Coppola / Mario Puzo (original novel author)
Starring: Marlon Brando / Al Pacino / Length: 175 minutes
Don't hate your enemy, or you will make wrong judgment.
Don't hate your enemies or you will make a wrong judgment.
In You've Got Mail (1998), Catherine, played by Meg Ryan, asks Joe (Played by Tom Hanks), "What makes men so obsessed with The Godfather?" Joe replied, "It is the Bible of our men, and it contains all the wisdom." ”
"I'm ready to offer him a condition that he can't refuse." This is the godfather's negotiation technique. He was an elegant gentleman with a martini in one hand and a butcher's knife in the other; a professional executioner in a noble suit who talked about dirty business; he only needed one gesture to make others lose his fortune; and just one smile was enough to turn gango into jade. He was an awesome character, whether a politician or a funeral home owner, who seemed forever waiting to hear his gentle call, only for his noble promise: "Someday— maybe this day will never come, and I will let you do something for me." But before that day comes, please accept justice at my daughter's wedding, which is also a gift from me to you! "So what gave the Godfather such a deep magic? Let him just sit there, in the corner of that dark room, as if in the middle of the black hole of the universe. People respected him, loved him, and feared him, and he was so complex and so deep.
The red blood and the black of the dress are the most dignified tones in the movie "The Godfather". The great thing about the Godfather is that he knows his responsibilities as the "Underground Emperor", just like the sentence in "Spider-Man": the greater the power, the greater the responsibility. Therefore, he always abided by his creed and would never sell drugs to harm others. To this end, he refused the drug lord Sulozzo's request. That's what The Godfather tells us, as long as you can face the world with dignity, you can live with dignity. Therefore, he can casually interact with high-level political figures, from the lowest to the highest level of society, he can also weave an invisible and complicated web.
As a masterpiece of the New Hollywood film movement, "The Godfather" is a revival of the classic robber genre, but also injects some new and unexpected twists and changes into this classic genre. These twists and turns are reflected in the meticulous description of the gangster family – when the audience looks at the mafia so gracefully, they can't help but open their mouths and sigh slightly, "My God."
Finally, the objective and cold perspective of "The Godfather" blurs the boundaries between good and evil, and its level of violence is worth a big book, but Coppola said: "If anyone thinks that this film promotes violence, it is not my intention." In fact, there are very few real violent scenes in the film, and they are very short. ”
In 1972, there were several historical events: Nixon's visit to China, the Munich massacre, the end of the Apollo moon landing program, and of course, the release of Coppola's "The Godfather".
★ Producer Evans, after determining coppola's willingness to be the director of "The Godfather", still needs to get a higher level of certainty, that is, Paramount's boss Charlie Bruton. Charlie Bruton's main business is not film, Paramount's income is less than 5% of his total income, he has established a kingdom of sugar in the Dominican Republic, and lives an almost slave-like life, Bruton is mean, cruel, and called fascist by those below, when he said to Evans on the other end of the phone in a Hitler tone: "Who is Coppola?" What was his last film? ...... His movies are shit! Eventually, Coppola and Bruton met, and then Bruton called the producer again and said: That little ghost man is good, but he can be a good director? Evans' assistant Porter said: "Trust me, he can."
★ Coppola set the tone for the godfather's photographic style - still, unless it moves with the character, the camera should remain static, the camera is placed there, let the actors enter the painting, and then paint, maintain stability, create an authoritative atmosphere, the whole film, should maintain a dark visual effect, the key characters should be in the shadows at key moments. In the interior layout, we have to get rid of all modern things, such as refrigerators, typewriters, etc., to have a sense of nostalgia, and the tone of the film, the color of those earthy yellows... Paramount's executives had this to say, "Hell, what is this?" Why can't I even see my face? Am I watching a movie in sunglasses? What kind of movie is this? Are we here to see these Italian bitches eating noodles? "The mainstream cinematography concept in Hollywood at that time was: bright! Every detail in the room can be seen clearly in sufficient light, the godfather is too unconventional, Paramount's bosses are very dissatisfied, Evans, after watching brando holding Sonny's body in the funeral parlor, said to the others: "Coppola is a stupid donkey, even Brando can't shine under his hands, this is the most overheated scene seen by Lao Tzu... Equally dissatisfied was the scene maker on Paramount's set, who even dared to growl at Coppola and say, "If you don't finish this scene today, you won't come tomorrow..."
It is said everywhere that Coppola is going to be fired by Paramount, but Paramount is always a company, and the reason why Coppola has not been fired is because the company has always been persistent in making profits as the ultimate goal: Puzo's novel "The Godfather", which is still on the best-seller list, has been republished 10 times, and the audience likes this story; he has invested a lot of money in this movie before, if Coppola is fired, the reward in the contract signed at that time is given to him; in the end, it is he who wrote "The Godfather". The screenplay for General Patton (1970) won the Oscar for Best Screenplay that year, so Coppola continued to sit in the director's chair and continue to give orders, fighting paramount executives and all kinds of soy sauce fighters.
★ Brando was a complete asshole in Paramount's eyes, his reputation was too bad, in the eyes of the producers, he represented rebellion and uncontrolled, and the producers must want someone who could be controlled - everything was within the control of cost. Brando can't be controlled, he's the devil, and after Coppola offered Brando at the meeting, another of Paramount's supervisors slammed his fist on the table: "As long as Lao Tzu is in this position for a day, he won't want to get this role!" After Coppola begged Brando to play, Paramount finally agreed, but asked for a contract with many restrictions, and even asked Brando to audition - which is undoubtedly an insult to the arrogant him.
Brando initially rejected The Godfather, and it wasn't until the Godfather's little words that he changed his mind, and he obviously wanted the role very much.
Coppola understands that if he wants Brando to play Don Corleone, the producer said it doesn't matter, and he must cross the level and go directly to the boss Bruton. He installed a video projector in Bruton's conference room and went to look for Bruton. Bruton came in and said, "Little devil, what are you doing?" Then see the screen, "Brando?" No, absolutely not, I don't want this crazy person! Then he turned and left, looked back again, stood still, brando, who had already made up on the screen, had hairspray on his hair, his face was covered with old man's clothes, his mouth was stuffed with facial tissues, his cheeks were shriveled, and he scraped his wrinkled face with the back of his hand... "Oh my God! Who is this old genius? It's amazing! So brando played the godfather.
★ Paramount had wanted to ask Robert Redford or Ryan O'Neill to play Michael, while Coppola wanted to use unfamiliar faces that looked like Italians. Coppola took a fancy to the fledgling Al Pacino, who was not yet famous at the time and had only starred in two minor films. Although Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Martin Sheen and James Kane all auditioned, Coppola insisted on fighting for the role of Pacino.
On al Pacino's case, Coppola and producer Evans got into another stalemate, and Evans looked down on Pacino, saying that Pacino was a dwarf and couldn't act at all. From the producer's standpoint, he had a point, and it was clear that the role of Mike Corleone was the key to provoking the entire film, and Pacino was too shallow to be competent.
At that time, Pacino had little self-confidence, and when he went to Paramount to report, he looked down at the tip of his leather shoes and did not dare to say a word, that is, he appeared arrogant and inferior. Later, in the process, even Coppola couldn't help but roar at him: You self-defeating bastard!
Pacino's position has been precarious, Coppola insisting on him playing Michael again and again, Evans refusing again and again, and Pacino auditioning again and again, back and forth countless times. Pacino's mood at the time was, if someone said to him, "Okay, the decision is down, you're out." "He wouldn't be angry at all, he would feel relaxed. Pacino's status was not fully determined until after the scene of the restaurant killing was filmed. Coppola is still very accurate in seeing people, and Pacino has become a generation of movie emperors.
Group photo of the big three during the filming of The Godfather: from left, Reed Baden (famous comedian), Mario Puzo (two-time Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay, original author of the "Godfather" novel), Marlon Brando (acting, temper, lace news go hand in hand)
The Godfather is based on Mario Puzo's novel of the same name published in 1969, and some of the main plots of the novel do not appear in the film, such as Don Vito's flashbacks of his early life, including how he moved to the United States, his previous family life, how he killed Don Fanucci, and how he became the godfather of the mafia, which are explained in The Godfather 2. The original novel of "The Godfather" is very eye-catching, the style is hard, the readability is very strong, the details of the novel texture are neither complicated nor simple, everything is to better shape the characters, and Puzo's control over the inner explosion of the characters is also very precise, not abusive, not repeated, in the reasonable outbreak, silent in the reasonable, the original novel in the mafia description is very much, so that people go back to doubt whether the author is related to the mafia, but this also shows from the other side that the novel content is very readable, Puzo talks about the story endlessly, and you don't feel nagging or bored, but you are completely immersed in the story in the interlocking links. Compared with its films, the novel seems to be more detailed and clear in terms of narrative, and the processing of the story line in the film will be much more chaotic than in its novel, and if you do not read the original work, you may be confused in some places. The description of murder and death in the novel is very explicit, and some of the details of the murder are written in great detail, so that there is a sense of criminal pleasure after reading it, or there is a strong desire for destruction in the male body.
In 2007, Coppola was filmed on "Youth Without Youth." Following the box office failure of Apocalypse Now (see 35th in this book), Coppola made many films in order to save his reputation, but most of them were mediocre and almost failed. In 1990, the launch of The Godfather Part III regained Coppola's former accolades.
After graduating from college, Coppola entered UCLA to specialize in film, when he had already made several short films, including pornographic films. In the meantime, he hired on the camera crew of Hollywood director Roger Corman and worked as a handyman.
In 1986, Coppola worked with George Lucas to direct Captain EO for Disney, starring Michael Jackson, setting a record for the most expensive film investment (more than $1 million per minute in minutes).
He was born in Detroit in 1939 to an Italian immigrant father who was a music conductor and composer. Coppola spent her childhood in the theater backstage and often peeked into her father's performances. He was fascinated by cinema from an early age, and at the age of 17 he entered the drama department of the Hofstra Academy, where he could do almost anything while attending on-campus theatrical performances. His name was Francis Ford Coppola.
Coppola, who graduated from the California Film School, started out as a screenwriter. But in the beginning, his unknown works were often ignored and belittled. It wasn't until 1970, when he won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay for "General Patton," that his talent was recognized.
In 1969, together with George Lucas, he founded The American Zoetrope Studio, hoping to create an environment in which filmmakers could play freely outside of the oppressed Hollywood studio system.
At the 2007 Academy Awards, to celebrate Martin Scorsese's best director for Infernal Affairs (see 53rd in this book), four godfathers of cinema were grouped together from left to right: Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas.
"The Godfather" and "Dialogue" have made Coppola a huge honor and commercial achievement, and he is full of ambition, hoping to surpass the famous film giants in Hollywood history. After several years of preparation, he decided to shoot Apocalypse Now. In the film, he attempts to use a philosophical point of view to describe how violence represented by war alienates people. In order to shoot this huge film, he spared no expense and spent a total of 36 million US dollars. However, fate was not good, after the release of this film, the critics were dead silent, they could not understand what Coppola was trying to explain, and the audience did not show the enthusiasm that Coppola had been treating for this high-cost new film. Entertainment Weekly even called Coppola a "hog with no supervision." In the annual Oscar competition, the film also went unpunished, which was undoubtedly another heavy blow to Coppola.
In 1981, he gave him a head start with One from the Heart, which was a crushing success both artistically and financially. Because he didn't want to go to Las Vegas to shoot, he spent $6 million on the set alone. In the end, the $30 million film only paid back 1 million in cost. Coppola was heavily indebted, with a debt of almost $50 million. His friend and business partner Lucas sneered at him: "Francis is an Italian opera. What he needs is a cluttered and boisterous atmosphere. ”
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