WEBVTT - Death by a Thousand Cuts 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:06.560 It's July of nineteen seventy one. A car rolls down 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:11.560 the ancient roads outside of the sprawling city of Palermo. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:16.880 Inside the car are a local driver and three American filmmakers. 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:23.400 The Godfather has arrived in Sicily. Francis Ford Coppola, his 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:29.480 production designer Dean Tavalias, and producer Gray Frederickson are scouting 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:35.520 locations near Corleone, the town whose name Mario Puzo appropriated 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:38.159 for his American mafia family. 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.120 Dean Tavalius takes his camera out of his bag and 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.000 starts taking photos from the back window of the car. 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:50.640 The driver goes berserk. No camera, no photos, someone will see, 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:51.160 he says. 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:55.880 On this summer's day in nineteen seventy one, many mobsters 0:00:55.920 --> 0:01:00.480 still live here, which causes the furor over Tavalerus's. 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:04.640 Tensions are high. A judge was recently assassinated, and the 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:07.640 authorities think the culprit is hiding out in Corleone. 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:12.120 But Corleone is too urban, dirty and crowded to capture 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:17.440 Coppola's vision. The group travels on. They finally reached the 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:21.240 tiny villages in the hills, just a few miles away 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:26.119 from the coastal resort town of Taramina. Here is Coppola's 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.679 land of ghosts, where Michael comes to live in exile. 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.800 I'm Mark Seal and I'm Nathan King, and this. 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:45.960 Is Leave the Gun, Take the Canoli. 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.400 In today's episode, we're making our way from the Sicilian 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.720 light to the darkness of Hollywood editing studios and the 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.040 tumultuous season of post production. 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.840 From drug induced obsession to compulsive defiance. The war behind 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.800 the making of The Godfather rages on. 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:07.480 So we escaped grim New York for the hot, bright 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.359 light of Sicily in July of nineteen seventy one. 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:13.560 Yes, and it comes as a relief for Coppola and 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:14.880 our beleaguered crew. 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:18.480 The slim down cast and crew went to Sicily for 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.120 two weeks, which was yet another fight that Copla had 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:21.840 with the studio. 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:24.760 The studio brass, of course, thought it would be a 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.440 lot simpler and a lot less expensive to shoot on 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.959 the back lot of the studio than to travel all 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:32.720 the way to Sicily with a crew and shoot there. 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:35.440 Can you imagine how different that would have looked? 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:37.720 Yeah, I think it would have made a big difference. 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.560 I mean, you can feel these scenes when Michael's walking 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.720 through these back roads of Sicily with his bodyguards, and 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.400 then he meets Apollonia by chance and is hit by 0:02:47.520 --> 0:03:00.320 what he calls the thunderbolt. Even Gordon Willis the fronts 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.920 of darkness embraced the Sicilian light. Here he is in 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.520 a two thousand and two interview on NPR. 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:11.360 So I figured at that point Sicily should look, you know, 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:17.280 mythical and sonny and kind of storybook feeling, So that 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:22.200 there was a juxtaposition between these two places, New York 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:24.359 and Sicily. And there was a counterpoint when I went 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:25.200 back and forth. 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:28.080 Willis and Coppola were finally getting a long once they 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.760 got to Sicily. Why the sudden congeniality. Were they just 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:32.800 happy to be in Italy? 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.680 Well, I think the pressure was a little turned down. 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:40.280 Filming was almost over, and crucially, Jack Ballard was an 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.800 ocean away, no longer breathing down their necks. 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:47.280 If Jack Ballard has gone, how is Robert Evans keeping 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:48.280 tabs on filming? 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.080 Well, he's really not. Jack Ballard had this idea that 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.520 dailies could be overnighted to him every day, but that 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:57.120 didn't really work out. 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.280 I have a feeling they got lost in the mail. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.840 Yeah, it wasn't the best plan. Listen to this memo. 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:08.280 Twa flight eight forty five leaving Rome two pm every 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.800 day and arrives in Los Angeles one h five am 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.680 the next day. This means Monday's dailies would be sent 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:20.880 on Tuesday, arrived Hollywood Wednesday running Beverly Hills the same day, 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.000 and we in turn would ship Thursday morning. 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:26.960 Well, no wonder Copola was happy. By the time he 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.359 gets notes on the first day of shooting, four days 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:30.000 have gone by. 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.480 Yeah, exactly, And it didn't work out the way Jack 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:37.240 Ballard wanted. According to Al Ruddy, the shooting in Sicily 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:40.760 just went smoothly. They got in, did their work, and 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:42.760 got out with very little fanfare. 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.240 So tell me about casting the Sicilians. I know the 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:48.880 casting of Apollonia was so important to Copola. 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.680 It was and Coppola gave an interview in two thousand 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.560 and one that we've mentioned before where he takes us 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.600 through his prompt book. I'm in the Sicilian section. 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:01.520 I see it says the corps to show how Michael 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.560 meets and falls in love with Apollonia and demonstrate that 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:08.080 he intends to marry her, and indicate Fabrizio's desire to 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:09.520 go to America. 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.640 And even at this stage of early planning, Coppola knew 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.920 that Apollonia had to be a true beauty. 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:19.479 Five pitfalls If Apollonia doesn't make your heart stop just 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:20.200 to look at her. 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.480 How did Coppola end up finding the woman who would 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:26.400 play Apollonia, Semonetta Stephanelli. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.880 Well, there were a list of twenty two front runners. 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:33.720 They were looking at really more well known young Italian actresses, 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:38.080 but ultimately they still weren't quite there with the casting 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:41.280 of Apollonia, and a casting director sent Coppola a photo 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.400 and he said, let's meet her, and so he met 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.320 her for an audition, and she apparently was perfect. 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.000 And for such a short lived character, she delivers an 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:54.320 incredible performance and her and Pacino have an incredible chemistry 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:54.880 as well. 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.240 Yes, and she spoke no English, but she later said 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:00.919 in an interview that she could tell Cino wanted to 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.000 talk to her, but they mostly spoke with their eyes. 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.200 And Sicily was a bit of a homecoming for Pacino, 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:09.120 right his grandparents were from there. 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:12.080 I phenom mistaken, yes, and I think he felt so 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.120 at home there, freed up from the pressures that he 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.120 had in New York where he felt like he was 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.599 going to be fired, and in Sicily he knew the 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.520 role was his and he was able to relax a 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:26.200 little bit. You know, I was able to interview Pacino 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:28.880 by email for the book, and I can read you 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.480 a bit of what he said about filming in Sicily, 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:36.520 and I quote the Sicilian people embraced us. I loved 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:42.080 their honesty, openness and hospitality. I had not become well known, 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.760 so I had the luxury of just being another person. 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:49.279 And that very much mirrors his character in the movie Michael, 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:53.200 who sort of escapes New York and lives in relative 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.600 anonymity in Sicily. My name is Michael Kohli. 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.560 Sama, Miguel Gorlone. There are people who pay a lot 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.000 of money for that information so that a better kids think. 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:07.600 But then your daughter would. 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.680 Lose a father a lot of our given that. 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.040 A bombas it, instead of gaining a husband. 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:21.720 And I suppose I think Paccino felt freed up from 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.960 the pressures that he had in New York, where he 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.160 felt like he was going to be fired, and in 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.360 Sicily he knew the role was his and he was 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.720 able to relax a little bit. And you can kind 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.720 of see it, you know, you see him in the villages, 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:40.120 drinking at that bar, meeting Apollonia's father and walking down 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:42.760 those ancient roads. I mean, you feel he's more relaxed. 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.200 So filming in Sicily ends with the literal bang of 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.320 Apollonia's untimely death. 0:07:54.280 --> 0:08:10.760 The day as Simonetta Stephanelli so simply put it in 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:15.240 that interview. I met him, I married him, I. 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.800 Died when it came time to leave Sicily, the production 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:23.200 moves back to Los Angeles, where the mood is quite different. 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.720 Now the fight over post production begins. 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.440 But for this fight, Coppola has a slightly different Robert 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:31.600 Evans to contend with. 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:35.360 That's right, during the height of filming, when Evans was 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:39.600 watching dailies and absolutely obsessed with the movie, he injured 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:44.240 his back supposedly playing tennis. Here's what his then wife 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:45.559 Alan McGraw told me. 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:50.400 He played very good, but very un beautiful tennis and 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.240 he just, you know, it's just a freak thing. He 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:58.800 just swung back and tripped and torqued his back severely. 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.800 He was in immense pain, completely drugged up with painkillers 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.880 and cocaine and literally being wheeled between the paramount editing 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:11.480 rooms in West Hollywood on a gurney. Here's Peter Bart 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:12.400 but he was. 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.920 In such terrible shape that he was physically a myth, 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.280 and he looked like a ghost. 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.360 I feel like this whole episode goes to show how 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:25.840 dedicated Evans was. Nothing was going to stop him from 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:27.560 leaving his mark on the film. 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.640 Certainly not. But as he wrote in his memoir several 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.040 years later, the drugs really took a toll on him. 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.720 So Evans is running his empire from mcgurney. Where's Copola? 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:42.680 Copola basically recuses himself back to San Francisco to take 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:45.320 a first pass of the edit. He and his wife 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.880 Eleanor had just bought a huge Victorian mansion in San 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:51.360 Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood. 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:54.400 That's a step up from the borrowed apartment in New York. 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:57.880 It was a step up, but according to Eleanor, these 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:02.240 previous owners had a lot of and so they woke 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:05.160 up in the middle of the night scratching, and they 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:06.800 had been bitten by fleas. 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:10.480 But at least he's not in La Copyla had insisted 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.680 from the beginning that the Godfather was not and should 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:15.200 never be an La production. 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:19.800 I think it was a technicality. Coppola is in San Francisco, 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:24.319 but Robert Evans' presence had followed him there. Coppola later 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:27.000 said that Evans threatened to take the edit away from 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:30.400 him if he delivered a movie longer than two hours 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:31.720 and fifteen minutes. 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:33.360 So where does he begin. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:38.080 Well, Coppola hires two editors, Bill Reynolds and Peter Zenner, 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:42.320 and the trio start the editing process right in that 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:48.240 flea ridden Victorian home, where they screen almost ninety hours 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:52.240 of footage. It was so much to get through that 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.720 the two editors flipped a coin. Reynolds would take the 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:59.880 first half and Zenter the second, and somehow the three 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:04.120 of them got a cut together that was two hours 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:05.840 and fifty three minutes long. 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.640 Well, that's it. Copola loses the addit if Evans's rule 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:10.280 is to be. 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:15.760 Believed, Yes, in his characteristic defiance, Coppola delivers a cut 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:19.319 that he knows it's too long. He showed it first 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:22.360 to his colleagues an American Zoo trope in a San 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:26.920 Francisco screening room, and then to the suits at Paramount 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.040 at the Gulf and Western Building in New York. 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:32.839 How does Robert Evans make it to New York but 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:33.720 it's bad back. 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:35.400 I have no clue. 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:37.480 Maybe with the help of some drugs. 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:38.240 Maybe. 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.040 So what are the reactions to the screening? 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:45.520 Well, Coppola remembers the San Francisco reaction being just so so. 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:49.760 Walter Murrat remembered it being incredible, but the New York 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:54.439 screening was a different story. Here's Peter bart And with. 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:58.520 The president in charge of Italy. The territory said that 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:02.319 the picture would never play in Italy. He said, I do. 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:07.400 I'm not sure it's even worth advertising it overseas. Not 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:11.040 a good movie, so it was very negative at that point. 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:16.359 Apparently Evans was in a feud with Paramounts new president 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:21.000 Frank Yablans, who were both buying for the approval of 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:22.120 Charlie Bludorn. 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:26.880 Frank said, too long, won't play it often enough, and 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:28.320 he didn't like the picture that much. 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.559 So word gets back to San Francisco. The Coppola has 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:37.080 to cut forty minutes from his masterpiece. Oh now he 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.360 gets worse. Not only does he have to cut forty minutes, 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.600 he has to take the new cut down to La 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.839 to screen it in the poolhouse at Woodland for an 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:47.520 adult Robert Evans. 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:49.839 And how does Evans feel about the new cut? 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.679 Robert Evans groans. He says the shorter version, which by 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.120 the way, is still two hours and fifteen minutes, feels 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.400 even longer. Here's Evans sparing no words about how he 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:00.560 felt in his memoir. 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.920 The picture stinks, friend has got it. The Untouchables is better. 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:07.480 You shot a great film. Where the fuck is it 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.640 in your kitchen with your spaghetti? It's sure ain't on 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:12.320 the screen. Where's the family? 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:12.720 The heart? 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:14.960 The feeling is that lift of the kitchen too. 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:18.720 He immediately calls New York and tells al Ruddy that 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:21.120 if they leave it at two point fifteen, then he's 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:23.560 walking and they can close the fucking studio. 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:26.600 Name me a studio head that tells the director to 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:30.840 make a picture longer, only enough like me would sounds 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:31.400 about right. 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:35.079 The movie consumed him, and keep in mind he's still 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:38.559 being rolled around on this gurney and insists that Coppola 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.520 stay in La so they can edit the movie together. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:43.520 This guy can't escape. 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.200 No, you really can't. And to make it worse, Coppola 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.200 is strapped for cash at this time. He's waiting on 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:52.880 his next paycheck, so he's staying in James Conn's guest room. 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:54.400 And how long does it take? 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:58.880 About two weeks. But the facts are fuzzy, partially, I 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.040 think because Evan's later would recall it like something out 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:06.000 of a bad acid trip. Here's Evans again, reading from 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:06.640 his memoir. 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.400 I was feeling like a fucking cartoon character, having various 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.319 hands turned me over from one orthopedic bed to another, 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.600 from bedroom to home screening room to paramount screening rooms, 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.160 to bed on wheels, going from sound stage to sound stage. 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:23.840 He was completely consumed by the Godfather, and I think 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:24.960 he went a little nuts. 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:29.120 My priorities are so fucked up and nothing bothered me. 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.520 Nothing got in my way, including my health, my wife, 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:37.640 my kid, my finances. My obsession was the Godfather. 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:40.760 And how did that obsession show up in the edit? 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.920 Well? According to Evans, he made the radical decision to 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:48.800 make the film longer, and he painstaking the extended shots 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:51.120 and found new scenes, but. 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:54.160 Coppola wanted it longer from the beginning exactly. 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.560 I was able to communicate with Coppola over email when 0:14:57.600 --> 0:14:59.960 I was writing the book, and I sent him a 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:04.800 list of questions. Next to the question what were Robert Evans' 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.720 contributions to the final edit of the film, he just 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:13.760 left a blank, So no contribution apparently, And it makes 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:17.880 sense that they have different recollections of this time. According 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:21.320 to Peter Bart, they weren't even speaking. They just spoke 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.800 through him. Here's what Peter told me. 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:30.040 Now, Bob feels that he found scenes that Francis had 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:35.920 left out and nuance, scenes had great nuance about character, 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:41.200 and restored those. I do not know who is right. 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.600 I suspect that A that Francis is correct, that b 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.800 that Bob also had a brilliant take on the picture 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:55.480 and did let scenes run long that had been cut 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:56.520 too abroughly. 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.560 And it wasn't just a behind the scenes There was 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:02.840 a public press war going on too. Can you tell 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:03.920 us a little bit about that. 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.400 Yes, the press caught win that the premiere was being 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:11.440 pushed from Christmas to March, which according to Evans, spells 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:13.720 disaster for a movie. 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:18.600 And it was exacerbated by Bob then foolishly confiding in 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:22.520 Joyce Habro the Calumnists that he had saved the movie. 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:25.200 Then he recut it and saved The. 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:29.040 Godfather that's a pretty brazen insult. Why do you think 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:30.920 he did this? It can't be good press that a 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.120 director and studio executive rewarring over the edit. 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.480 Well, it certainly drummed up excitement for the movie. But 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:41.680 according to Bart, Evans and Joyce Haber were friends and 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:43.720 it might not have been premeditated. 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:47.680 So in a moment of weakness, Bob says this, and 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:52.320 it gets in the paper in Francis. Rightly. As fragile 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:57.240 as their relationship had did, it became more fragile because 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:02.880 Fress's copeless opinion. Movie didn't need to be saved. Ninety 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:06.280 percent could have been done by restoring the cut that 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.199 Ya Bons had seen and rechecked it. 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.400 Well, whatever happened, Evans and Copla must have done something right. 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.440 Yep, and everybody wants credit right. Al Ruddy put a 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.959 Hollywood spin on the famous quote a bad movie is 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.520 like an orphan, but a great movie has twenty eight fathers. 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.560 At the height of the post production battle, things came 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:31.080 to a head between Copola and Evans. With the film's 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.720 iconic score. Tell us about this final battle mark. 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.080 Well, if you can believe it, this is a bigger 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.399 knockdown drag out fight than the editing. 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:41.520 Oh, I can believe it with these guys. 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:45.560 Apparently, while in Sicily, Coppola could hear the haunting score 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.320 of The Godfather in his head. He knew exactly what 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:52.720 he wanted, But the problem was that Evans knew exactly 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:56.560 what he wanted as well, and they were polar opposites. 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:01.040 In fact, Evans had already commissioned a composer to the score. 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.280 Yes and get ready for this. It was Henry Mancini, 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:06.760 who had done Breakfast at Tiffany's. 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:13.960 And Copola, on the other hand, felt that the film 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.840 needed something a little bit darker, and he wanted Nino Rota, 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.320 who was called the Italian Mozart. 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:24.399 Rota was an elusive Italian who had composed the score 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:33.879 for Franco Zaffarelli's Romeo and Juliet. The only problem was 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.439 Nino Rota lived in rome and he wasn't easy to find. 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:41.320 His nephew had told me that he was like a phantom, 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:43.240 you know, and he didn't want to be found. He 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:45.280 simply disappeared. 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:47.000 So how did Coppola find him? 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:51.120 So Coppola had to hunt down a phantom of sorts, right, 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:55.400 But he found a connection It was an Italian actress 0:18:55.440 --> 0:19:01.600 and screenwriter Suso Checchi Diamico, who a meeting at Nino 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:06.320 Roto's apartment in Rome, where Coppola screened an early cut 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:06.959 of the film. 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:09.200 Dar I ask how long it was? 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.400 It was five hours. He showed him a five hour 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:13.320 cut of the movie. 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:15.520 Can you imagine? What did Roda think? 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:20.000 Well, apparently Roda loved it. There was an immediate connection 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:23.800 between these two artists, and Coppola left Roda with the 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.240 cut and instructions for each piece of music that he 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.280 felt was needed. By the time Coppola went back to 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.239 Rome for his second visit with Roda, he had an 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.720 edited version of the film and Roda had a surprise 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:37.320 for him. 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:38.680 What was it? 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.840 He picked up Coppola at the airport and he was 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:49.520 humming a song that's it and Evans hated it, You're kidding. 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:53.320 Six weeks before the release, which would be March of 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:58.639 nineteen seventy two, Robert Evans called an emergency meeting at Woodland. 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.480 It was a hot dog lunch served by his wife 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.439 Ali McGraw, and in this meeting he makes his case 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:10.480 for using Henry Mancini's music for the film. He says, 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:14.040 the dark movie needs some bright American music to counter 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.560 all of the blood and all of the bodies. 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:18.600 How did Coppola react to this? 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:23.639 Not well? He goes on one of his signature diactribes 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:26.480 and says that they want to change the music, they 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:30.480 can fire him, hire another director, and make them take 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:33.800 out the music. Evans says he wants to screen two 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:37.240 versions of the film to test audiences and let the 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:38.399 audiences choose. 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:39.960 Isn't it a little late for that? 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:44.080 Of course? And luckily, just as he's making this argument, 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.440 Ali McGraw walks into the room with more hot dogs 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.960 and reminds Evans that they have plans to go to Acapulco. 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:52.440 Saved by the bell. 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:57.520 Finally, Evans and Coppola strike a deal. They'll screen just 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:01.200 the latest cut with Coppola's music to a small audience 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:03.760 and if they don't like the music, Coppola will take 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:04.160 it out. 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:07.360 What did the audience think, of course, they loved it. 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:09.520 And did Evans ever come around to the music? 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:13.840 Yes, And Walter March tells a fantastic story about Coppola 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.000 leaving him in La to finish the music with Evans. 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:18.680 Here's Walter March. 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:21.800 What is it about the movement his music? That Bubjet's 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:26.240 great music? Why doesn't he like it? And for some 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.760 reason I thought, well, wait, a minute piece ahead of 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:34.560 a studio and there's a scene with the head of 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:39.760 a studio, Waltz Studios, and that guy finds a horse's 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:43.000 head in his bed in his music, and it is 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:47.320 a little soft music. Maybe is there something that I 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.959 can do in the music editing to make it a 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:55.800 little more hitchy than it is? And so I did 0:21:55.880 --> 0:22:01.520 things that I had done on GHX thirty eight, which 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:05.120 was to take two copies of the music and slide 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:09.119 one part of the music against the other one so 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:13.359 that there's a sort of dissonance going on. So I 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.399 called Vin this up and said to have something to 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:20.080 show you, and he came in and he laid down 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:23.960 on the on the bed and we pushed the button. 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:27.720 We played it, and when the scene finished, he jumped 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:30.600 off of the bed and said, it's great. It's great. 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:32.720 Do you think he knew that he had lost the 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:34.440 battle and wanted to be on the right side of 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:35.160 the story. 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:38.480 It's possible. I also think this was an incredible moment 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:42.840 in the movie, and that small change must have swayed him. 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:45.440 And I have to ask what happened with Jack Ballard. 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:50.640 Well, in an almost surreal moment of karma, Jack Ballard 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:54.840 took his last stand and was properly cut down the size. 0:22:55.359 --> 0:23:02.600 We were at the Paramount Lots screening the sound effects 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:06.520 to reel right after John Corleone leaves the hospital. 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:09.639 Jack Ballard walked into the room and listened to a 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:12.960 few minutes of sound effects, and then he stood. 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:15.920