In the screening room, just as members of the staff settle in their chairs, word arrives that DeLuxe labs has ruined another day’s filming by underdeveloping it. Willis sighs and curses under his breath. The Godfather’s production contract is locked into a union agreement that film processing must be done in New York. Insurance covers most of the loss in time and money, but locations and talent are not always readily available for retakes, and the reshooting has a demoralizing effect on the staff.
Coppola signals to the projectionist and the lights dim. Brando and Caan appear on the wide screen. It is the scene of the Sollozzo-Don meeting, which was filmed over again after the first dailies were judged unacceptable.
The new rushes are also disappointing. Dramatic points are made sloppily, if at all. Brando underplays to excess; his mannerisms work against the character and he looks grotesque in closeups. Caan’s only line, a very important one, lacks definition and fails in the intended effect in each of the several takes that are shown. The question on everyone’s mind is whether the scene can be saved by editing.
During the rushes, Coppola whispers to Mark Laub, one of the editors, who sits by his side taking notes. The director gives suggestions about which of the takes he prefers and how the scene should be cut.
After the screening, Dr. Iacobellis, the doctor assigned to The Godfather by Paramount, arrives to have a look at Coppola. He takes him into an empty office for a quick examination and prescribes the sleeping pills the director has requested.
22nd DAY OF SHOOTING: MONDAY APRIL 26
Location: the Bellevue morgue, First Avenue and 29th Street.
The receiving rooms in the basement have been dressed to represent Bonasera’s Funeral Parlor, where the disfigured corpse of Sonny Corleone has been brought after his ambush slaying.
A white porcelain embalming table is set up under a low hanging lamp in the center of the dimly lighted room. The area surrounding the set is stacked with little wooden coffinlike boxes, used for transporting body parts to the hospital laboratory for analysis.
Everyone in the crew is reserved and hushed while the scene is being set up, but after a few hours the morgue has become just another location and during lunch people eat and joke in the long corridor lined with sliding drawers holding unclaimed bodies.
Brando’s lunch arrives late from Vincent’s. So as to not hold up filming, the star checks with the cameraman to make sure that only his left hand and shoulder are in frame for the shot, and then, while the camera rolls, he finishes eating his lunch with his right hand as he leans over the bullet-ridden body of his “son.”
Coppola works listlessly and mechanically, requesting numerous takes of each shot for no apparent reason, as each one seems no different from the one preceding. One of the production staff comments, “He’s very insecure. He doesn’t know what he wants or how to get it. What a lousy picture this is going to be!”
The afternoon drags on, further delayed by the breakdown of the freight elevator from the street to the basement, which is needed for one shot.
Pressure to keep on schedule is showing on the director as each day the production gets further behind. He announces warily that to save time he will start rehearsing each evening the scenes to be shot on the following day. This means he can view rushes only once a week.
23rd DAY OF SHOOTING: TUESDAY APRIL 27
Location at Thompson and Bleeker Streets to reshoot two scenes which were ruined at the labs: Sonny leaving Lucy Mancini’s apartment and the buttonmen hiding out “at the mattresses.”
Around midday Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather, puts in his first appearance since the start of filming. He is a short, stocky man with jet black hair, who looks as if he could be cast as a member of the Godfather’s clan. Coppola and the producers go off with him to a nearby Italian restaurant for lunch.
Pressure to keep to the shooting schedule never lets up. Every day the producers, the director and the 1st A.D. hold brief, intense conferences to discuss measures for greater efficiency.
The day ends with a small send-off party for Tony, the clapstick boy, who has been called up by the National Guard. Production manager Fred Caruso never misses an opportunity for a celebration.
24th DAY OF SHOOTING: WEDNESDAY APRIL 28
Location: Boardroom of the Penn Central Railroad on the 32nd floor above Grand Central Station.
Two dozen or so day players from the Victor Jay casting agency are on hand as Mafia warlords who have gathered from all over the United States to hear the Godfather make his declaration of peace.
Coppola quickly calls a rehearsal and announces that he intends to complete the entire scene today. “We’ve heard that story before” expresses the general reaction of the crew, but the director is in unusually good spirits and works with energy and purpose.
Inexplicably, after putting in a brief appearance the first thing in the morning, 1st A.D. Steve Kesten has gone off for the rest of the day. Fred Gallo, a unit supervisor steps in to run the day’s shooting. The crew immediately starts to speculate that something is going on.
The day players are hushed and expectant when Brando enters, partially made up and dressed in black jeans and a white V-neck undershirt, and takes his position at the huge conference table. The supporting actors rehearse in full voice, in contrast to the low, hoarse murmur that Brando is using. (The Godfather was shot in the throat in the assassination attempt.) The rehearsal goes very well, and the moment it’s over the crew moves in to set up and light the scene. Coppola walks around the large, elegantly furnished room with cameraman Willis, carefully mapping out all the camera angles and moves. The day players are sent to wardrobe and makeup, many of them to have their hair and sideburns trimmed to 1945 style. An hour and a half later the scene is ready to shoot.
Late in the afternoon Brando, in the middle of a long speech, starts blowing his lines. “That’s okay, Marlon,” Coppola says calmly. “Let’s try it again.” But Brando is angry with himself for not getting through the master shot and curses humorously each time it is stopped. He finally makes it on the eighth try.
It is Richard Conte’s first day of filming, in the cameo role of Barzini, who, in this scene, chairs the meeting of the Mafia leaders. He works smoothly, impressing both director and crew with his professionalism. One line—After all, we’re not communists!—he delivers right on the nose for low-key comic effect each time, as the shot is repeated for several takes from different angles. To save time Coppola decides to skip closeups of Conte and by 7 P.M. he has completed the scene, keeping his promise.
Conte, dressed in a white knit polo shirt, light blue sports jacket and a Hollywood tan, is leaving the building through the large, almost deserted lobby. He is stopped by a middle-aged secretary who requests his autograph. As she speaks to him, the woman stares intently at his face and keeps repeating as though in disbelief, “Mr. Conte, you really look good!” She is obviously impressed by the well-kept condition of his face and body. Conte smiles broadly as he asks her name and signs To Rita, Richard Conte in large, graceful letters and then turns and quickly exits to his waiting station wagon.
When 1st A.D. Steve Kesten disappeared early in the day rumor began to circulate that he was off the picture. It was confirmed by the arrival of the next day’s call sheets at five o’clock. Printed next to the title of Assistant Director was the name Fred Gallo.
25th DAY OF SHOOTING: THURSDAY APRIL 29
The next morning Roz Catania, petite assistant to the producer, is in her small office at Filmways, talking about the removal of Kesten from the picture.
“He was fired because he was trying to produce the picture.” She leans over her typewriter and continues in a confidential tone. “The way worked intimidated Francis. Would you believe it? When he was asked to resign he refused to quit. He had to be fired by Ruddy!” Realizing that the staff and crew have been wondering if 2nd assistant director Steve Skloot will also be asked to resign (Kesten brought him on the picture), Catania adds, “Skloot nee
dn’t worry. There’s no intention of firing him.”
The morning location in Hoboken, New Jersey, is changed because of cloudy weather conditions, which would not match the previous day’s filming. Coppola decides to use the time to rehearse Brando and Salvatore Corsitto, the new actor playing Bonasera. (The director is not too pleased with his acting ability on the basis of his work in the funeral-parlor scene.) First, however, he conducts the actors on a tour of the interior set of the Godfather’s house, which has been constructed on one of the soundstages at Filmways. Some of the exterior scenes have already been filmed on location at the mall on Staten Island. The downstairs of the Don’s house is complete in every detail: living room, study, kitchen, dining room, entrance hallway and stairway leading to the second story, which ends abruptly around the first turning. The bedroom scenes, which are supposed to take place on the second floor, have been set up on the other soundstage. No expense has been spared in appointing the rooms with realistic details, down to food in the refrigerator and cooking utensils in the kitchen drawers. The only thing that breaks the illusion of a real house is the elaborate system of scaffolding and lights where the ceiling would normally be. Coppola estimates that the cost in materials and labor of the house set is about $80,000; it will be completely destroyed once filming is completed.
The rehearsal of the scene between the Godfather and Bonasera begins. Coppola is not pleased with the way both actors are playing it and tries to explain what should be happening to convey the power of the Godfather and his methods of ruling his vast domain. On suggestions from Brando, Coppola rewrites bits of the scene during the rehearsal and sends them up to his secretary to type and make copies in time for tomorrow’s filming.
During the morning rehearsal Jimmy Caan and Bob Duvall wait outside in the front lobby of the studio, passing the time by telling jokes and clowning with some of the teamster drivers. They get onto the subject of “mooning” (the definition of which you will not find in any dictionary): that is, the practical joke of shocking someone by exposing your naked behind. The point is to take the victim by surprise and it’s even funnier if done in a place totally unsuitable for such high-jinks, e.g., a restaurant or movie set. Duvall and Caan decide to “moon” Coppola and Brando while they are in rehearsal and proceed to sneak onto the soundstage where the rehearsal space has been partitioned off. They take positions behind some flats, and on silent signal give a whoop, spinning around and pulling down their trousers and undershorts in one motion, thrusting their bare behinds into the amazed presence of Brando and Coppola. The effect is not as riotous as they expected. Coppola smiles wanly and Brando looks positively disapproving. For a few minutes the two pranksters try to draw the director and star into their high spirits, but it is obvious that Brando and Coppola do not want to be distracted from their work, and the two “mooners” depart.
The afternoon is spent in the long mirrored hallway leading to the lobby of the Hotel Edison, on 46th Street in Manhattan, filming the scene in which Luca Brasi, the Godfather’s bodyguard, is murdered during his meeting with Sollozzo in a nightclub.
About 10 extras have been called for the afternoon, but only one young man playing a soldier is used. It is discovered that a subway scene for which the extras were needed was dropped from the shooting script a few days ago, but somewhere the communication wires were crossed and the extras are on hand as background for a scene no longer scheduled to be filmed. After being kept waiting in costume and makeup for about four hours, they are sent home.
Someone comes up with the idea of saving time by shooting the Luca Brasi room scene, scheduled to be filmed at a location on Mott Street, in one of the Edison hotel rooms. Staff, crew and equipment move upstairs and the scene is completed by early evening.
26th DAY OF SHOOTING: FRIDAY APRIL 30
Today is the first day working in the studio interior of the Corleone house. It is the opening scene of the film, which takes place in the Don’s study. Bonasera has come to ask the help of the Godfather in avenging his daughter’s beating. One of the assistant cameramen has secured a special computer-timed lens to use in a slow two-minute take for the opening shot. The timing device was recently invented and up to now has been used exclusively for commercials.
While the camera and lights are being set up, Coppola rehearses the new lines with Brando and Corsitto on the rehearsal set away from the working crew. The director explains the scene line by line for Brando, who seems surprisingly naive about its literal meanings as well as its emotional and dramatic changes.
During a break, while Brando is upstairs in his dressing room, Coppola jokes about the reactions of Charlie Bluhdorn, Gulf and Western’s chairman of the board, to the rushes he has seen of Brando’s work in the film. He launches into a comic imitation of Bluhdorn’s foreign accent: “Francis, I can’t understand a word Brando’s saying in some scenes. I know he’s supposed to be Italian, but the audience must follow what’s going on. We’ll call him back to dub all his scenes if necessary!”
The dailies this evening are mostly endless takes of gangsters eating enormous quantities of food in the mattress hideout scene. Coppola intends to intercut these with quick shots of gangland murders that are happening at the same time in the story. One of the scenes tonight features Coppola’s father playing a sad honky-tonk tune on the piano. Carmine Coppola, now retired, has been a classical musician and conductor. His son hopes to talk Paramount into letting him compose the background music for the film. The Godfather is quite a family affair, with the director’s mother, father and sister appearing in it so far.
27th DAY OF SHOOTING: MONDAY MAY 3
Filmways studio. Continue work on the opening scene of the film.
Ex-wrestler Lenny Montana, who plays the part of Luca Brasi, stands in front of the camera in full evening dress with white tie. He is about to start his short scene with Brando. (Coppola is aiming for a comic effect in the contrast between the character’s thuglike appearance and his formal dress and behavior.) Montana responds to some last-minute instructions with a nod and a grunt. The cameras roll.
The Godfather turns to the stiffly formal Luca, who moves forward to kiss his hand, backs away, then takes an envelope out of his breast pocket. He holds it out but waits to let go of it until he has made his speech.
When Montana opens his mouth to begin, he suddenly sticks out his tongue as far as it will go; a strip of surgical tape is stuck to it, inscribed with the words Fuck you. Brando’s eyes almost pop out of his head and he doubles up with laughter. Montana deftly turns in a half-circle so the other actors and the crew can see. Even Coppola cannot resist the joke, which is quickly reported all over the studio.
All morning, extras keep turning up, hoping to be chosen for special bits of business in the big wedding scene. There will be around 500 wedding guests in all, so the wardrobe and makeup design departments have their work cut out for them.
Nightclub and recording singer Morgana King, who has been cast as Mama Corleone (after Valli and Anne Bancroft were considered for the part) arrives at the studio. She is a big woman, good-looking in an earthy way, with an ebullient personality. Some of the staff are fans of hers and she makes an immediate hit around the dressing rooms and offices. The Godfather will be her first movie.
Off-camera, Brando sits on a piano bench in the living-room set, holding a portable dry-ice air conditioner to his face to keep his elaborate makeup from melting.
In the second-floor dressing-room area Al Martino paces nervously, muttering to anyone who cares to listen that each time he has memorized the lines for his big scene with Brando they have been rewritten. Now he is ready and waiting, but as usual things are behind schedule. When around five o’clock it is clear that the scene will not be shot today, he is released by a 2nd A.D. and leaves the studio hurriedly. But at seven, the day’s filming completed, Coppola suddenly calls a rehearsal of Brando and Martino. When he hears that Martino has left he looks first annoyed, then tired and defeated.
Anoth
er overtime day ends with a champagne birthday party in honor of one of the teamsters. Fred Caruso, production manager, takes special care to celebrate events such as this. He makes sure that there is a large supply of food and drink around. Beer and hard liquor are always on hand, supplied by distributors in seemingly unlimited quantity. Ostensibly for use in front of the camera, it seldom gets there. One of the production staff comments, “In the long run, keeping the teamsters in good spirits pays off in dollars and cents. Being on their good side makes a big difference in all sorts of little ways, like their overlooking small union rule infractions and granting minor concessions that can add up to thousands of dollars saved. Caruso knows his business.”
At the end of the shooting day, Brando stands in the studio hallway signing autographs as he peels off layers of latex wrinkled skin from around his eyes and throat.
28th DAY OF SHOOTING: TUESDAY MAY 4
Filmways. In one of the dressing rooms, Al Martino, on Coppola’s orders, is running through his lines for one of the production assistants.
“Which version do you want?” he grouses. “First he rewrites the scene three times and now he’s cut the dialogue to almost nothing. How’s anybody going to know what this character’s about, with so many lines gone?” He proceeds to act out the last two versions (cut and uncut) of the scene, both of which he knows perfectly. “When I get on the set I’m going to see if I can talk Francis into putting some of those lines back in.”
The Godfather Journal Page 5