I have always loved when art works are what they are about. To me that is the holy grail of art, but perhaps I’ve only touched on it briefly. The making of Apocalypse Now reflected many of the same elements that made up the Vietnam War: youth, abundance of equipment (firepower), rock and roll, drugs, an out-of-control budget, and naked fear. It was what it was about. I think of the extraordinary life of Yukio Mishima, the great Japanese novelist, whose entire body of writing paralleled the essence and precise facts of his life, ending, in fact, in a sequence that might very well have been out of his writing, where he staged a right-wing coup with his private army, and ended his own life with ritual seppuku (suicide). His life and death were as much his art as was his brilliant writing.
Several years ago, realizing that I was now of an age when it was time to begin an ambitious project that could serve as the culmination of my life (if there is such a thing), I ranged through all sorts of possibilities and then came upon a thought. Certainly Fellini had made his work a unique reflection of his life with 8½; but even before, his La Dolce Vita had so nailed that period of the 1950s that if a Martian were to come to earth and ask, “What can you tell me about the fifties?” all you’d have to respond with is, “See La Dolce Vita.” It was all in that film: the point at which “celebrity” had eclipsed Christ; the advent of the paparazzi; the futility of one’s work at a time when it meant nothing in terms of the transitions going on.
At this juncture, I began to wonder if there was a single theme that I could appropriate for my own era: the post–World War II era, when so many interesting things seem to have turned our world upside down. It was the time of the Cold War, a renewed effort to attain civil rights, an age when man went to the moon; our era was defined by a senseless war in Vietnam, by the sight of a popular young president slaughtered before all of our eyes. We had experienced all those things and more, I realized, through television: it was the television era, which was launched in black and white and became color as we watched. Television began even to define who we were by reflecting who we were.
So I began to feel that all I could do as a culminating work was to look at something like my own family: perhaps several generations of it, as the young Thomas Mann had done in his magnificent Buddenbrooks; and in telling my own story, I’d be telling television’s story as well, because in three generations of the Coppola family the entire history of television—its birth, development, and the beginning of its destruction (or transition to the information age)—could be told. And then it occurred to me: I must tell and fictionalize this story about me, my family, and television in a new art form that is the progeny of television, film, and theater—Live Cinema. Just as Buddenbrooks was the story of several generations of the Buddenbrooks (really, Mann’s family) during a time of seismic changes in Germany, an era when the commercial confederation of merchant guilds (the Hanseatic League) that had controlled Baltic sea trade, gave way to a new German nation, something like my own family’s saga over three generations would come to reflect the enormity of changes brought by television.
With this as a goal and Mann’s bildungsroman as an inspiration, I began to lay out the structure for a big cinematic work dealing with three generations of the Corrados, loosely based on the Coppolas, that would begin just as television was first emerging, and then develop as television came to be the dominant force of the period. So for me, there was no other way to express this: it had to be done as “what it was about,” in a new form of television, which I have been discussing as Live Cinema.
In my studies, I was very impressed, as you’ve come to realize, with the ambition of young Eugene O’Neill, who wanted to see a flowering of American theater, which he believed had become stagnant. In the 1920s he reached out in many directions to incorporate traditions that had been lost, at the same time using using his own personal life and his family’s life in cycles of plays. And in doing so, he gave himself everything—sea—fate—God—murder—suicide—incest—insanity. I too felt that if I were to spend the time looking at a family like mine, I wouldn’t be able to tell the stories in just one cinema play, but would need any number of them to contain all I felt there was to tell.
My script is now very long, and far from done. It’s called Dark Electric Vision, and is currently made up of two cinema plays. The first is titled Distant Vision, followed by Elective Affinities. My dream would be to produce this work at a facility like CBS Television City. My intention is to do each play live, and beam it out to movie theaters around the world, making it available for home viewing as well. I’m told the great Noël Coward, later in his career, would perform in his own plays for only six performances. Taking from this precedent, I thought our own productions would give six live performances—including performances at different times on the broadcast days so they could be seen in other time zones around the world—available to theaters or home audiences. After the sixth performance, this life cycle of sorts would be available only as archival copies. Everything I’ve just spelled out will no doubt change. Whether this, or anything like this, is possible, I have no idea. Right now, as you have witnessed, I’m busy trying to set down what I have learned from my two workshops—from camera angles and marks to the immense logistical and financial challenges of such a massive and ambitious production.
Truly though, the main unanswered question remains: would anyone want to make Live Cinema other than me? How shall I answer this? It is exhilarating and exciting to work in this new form of cinema-television-theater. It is unquestionably, indubitably the logical emerging offspring from these three parents: theater, film, and television. I would guess the answer is yes.
Francis Coppola with the cast and crew of the UCLA Live Cinema Workshop, July 22, 2016.
APPENDIX
JOURNAL NOTES DURING OCCC LIVE CINEMA PRODUCTION
MAY/JUNE 2015
In Oklahoma, I kept a daily journal. At UCLA in Los Angeles, a year later, I did not. I’m not sure why exactly—perhaps because in L.A. I was on familiar ground, and had friends and relatives to connect with. Thinking that this view into my daily morning thoughts during my stay in Oklahoma might be interesting to the curious reader, I’ve included it here.
MAY 2, 2015
Here in my new apartment in Oklahoma City—very spacious, good kitchen, good situation in a quiet bldg. near lots of activities walking distance. Gym and pool upstairs. Now I slowly need to reduce bric brac and move my own stuff in. I have my boxes to empty and situate myself. Secret now is to calm down, settle in—relax and eventually start thinking about rewriting SHORT DV to get it to highest potential to learn from. I have a place, a car, a studio, Silverfish and staff so all is coming together and is in order. Now I need to put my exercise pattern together, and do my workout here in bedroom, and then think about gym upstairs and if that is an option.
The 7X is in the hangar here and the pilots are in training in Dallas, quite close. Soon, Anahid, Masa, Jenny, Robby will be here, Gray is already here.* Step by step takes me where I want to go. Best thing is just to look around, check the closet space and keep my boxes, storing owner’s bric brac in them, storing them. Seems to have much potential. Come one month, I will be a lot smarter regarding the subject of LIVE CINEMA than I am now.
Here’s the just out cover of the Wine Spectator—I hope it’s good for INGLENOOK!
MAY 3, 2015
Sunday. I just met with the costume designer Lloyd Cracknell, a very kind man, and I realized just what Jenny had told me, how much such a man appreciates and loves “family.” He spoke so much about his nieces and how he takes each of them on a trip and about seeing his family at home in Cambridge. That is the thing people at large don’t grasp; just because they are gay, doesn’t mean that they’re not every bit as involved with their families; their mothers and fathers and all the children of their siblings. Maybe more so. Of course they want unions under the conventional word MARRIAGE because they want more than anything to continue to tie with their families and be accepted and in
tegrated as part of the family as they know it.
Beyond that, he was very suitable for what I’m doing here with SHORT DV and I was pleased to have him on our team. And further to that, I looked over the faculty of OCCC and it’s extensive so I’m sure there are many other resources I can pull into the SHORT DV project.
All is well; I am here—now I must rewrite SHORT DV: be healthy (do exercises), work hard (write SHORT DV), be happy (pasta fazool).
MAY 5, 2015
My thoughts ought to return to SHORT DV and what I can do to make it more succinct and a better use of the experimental workshop. I have this hunch I can work in the marital troubles that Tony has more, off-the-cuff, more as if by accident, and right when something, some main thrust, is going forward. As if it happens in the middle of the LIVE BROADCAST and not really planned or part of the show. The wife comes into the Silverfish and interrupts the broadcast and they somehow have that scene about the “protégée” right when all this other stuff is happening. I will try.
Beyond that—I hated that AVENGERS movie and so the taste of the world and I are parting even further than before. Nothing I can do but note it is happening.
Also, Don Quixote is more entertaining than ever, what with each of his “Knight Errant” adventures ending up with him getting trounced and beaten up and Sancho coming out with the most ridiculous “sayings.” It’s fun to read.
Well, on to make the most out of this day.
MAY 6, 2015
For me, the truth is—nothing is more important than that 100% of my attention be given to SHORT DV because doing it will be more difficult than even I, typically oblivious to practicality, think it will be. It is, even at this scale, next to impossible. It depends much on cable management and keeping the different simultaneous layers of activity separate. Each layer makes sense so that they begin happening at the same time, occupying the same space as they must, they remain orderly. That is why this Stage Mgr. I am meeting for lunch must grasp how to do it—more so, have a natural comfort with how to do it, as does the TD Teri, who exists on the other end of the process.
MAY 10, 2015
Things are okay now in OKC—I’m comfortable in my Bricktown apartment; my little white car is ready and I know how to drive to the college. Masa and Robby will be arriving shortly and soon the Silverfish will be placed on the stage, I think.
So again, the most important thing is the script.
Here are a few points that Greg, the professor here I’ve chosen as advisor, has given me:
1. Since in this version it’s really Archie’s story, in Sc 7, when Chiara says she fell in love with Archie at 17—is there any way, either from her or through your exciting use of feeds, to give us a feel for why she fell in love with him, which also helps pull us in a little closer to Archie, seeing/feeling him through her eyes? (Archie dancing with Chiara when she’s a young girl? Chiara putting his picture on her wall?)
2. In Sc 10 . . . maybe this is just a performance thing between you and your actors, but it seems like things go bad just a bit too abruptly. All I can do is draw from my family dynamic—and my father was raised in Italy and would have been a winemaker if WW2 had not come along, so instead he joined the Navy and then became an FBI agent afterwards.
(This is Chiara’s intro to Corrado household, the fight, etc. “Proof she’s a virgin”—How can I make less abrupt?)
Would my family explode in a situation like this? You bet. But since what they would most want in this situation is to put a good face on things for this lovely new member of the family, my Mom and Dad would have fought against this explosion just a tad bit harder. Would it have gotten the best of them like it does in this scene? HOW CAN THEY REMEMBER THAT THIS NEW YOUNG GIRL IS IN THEIR PRESENCE? Yes! They would just have been fighting it, since it’s the last thing they’d have wanted to put on display—on the very night they welcomed her in.
Maybe it could help Vincenzo too, our feeling for him. But this is my family, not yours, so trust whatever feels true to you. (?)
3. In Sc 14. . . how can Nadia Boulanger be more than just a name?† Maybe through use of a feed? Or something else? Can we get a feel for Archie’s composer dream here, versus his flute world, which we get a good feel for? WHAT DOES NAME “NADIA BOULANGER” REPRESENT TO ARCHIE? (CARMINE) A DREAM NOT MADE POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF US KIDS.
4. In Sc 31, pg 20. . . Why is Archie being on his knees difficult to imagine? Can we have some beat with him before that lets us experience why this is true? I HAD FILOMENA ASK THIS OF HIM, WHAT ELSE COULD I DO BEYOND HIS JUST SAYING IT? This will also help set up that fantastic moment when he goes on his knees to offer up his dream if God will only let Tony walk again.
5. Sc 43, pg 28 . . . when Archie calls himself a shit composer, is there any feel possible for the kind of composer he is—before this? Maybe a feed thing at some point prior to this? It is Archie’s major conflict, the flute versus composing. OK, HOW GOOD A COMPOSER IS IT? WE ALL HAD NO DOUBT HE WAS TALENTED—HOW TO SHOW?
We hear the flute. It would help to hear his music. GOOD POINT—Because in many ways his conflict is that despite how blessed he is with the flute, his passion is not for playing the notes others have found out there on the Creative Frontier. He wants to be out there on the Frontier as an explorer, discovering those notes himself. YES, WHY DOES ARCHIE WANT TO BE COMPOSER RATHER THAN FLUTIST? THE MONEY? THE VANITY? BECAUSE HE ALWAYS THOUGHT OF HIMSELF AS BEING A KIND OF GERSHWIN.
6. Sc 55, pg 33 . . . Maybe this is too much, but at the commencement last night I watched our music professor conduct his choir, and saw the energy the music and voices filled him with—enliven his body, his hands, his eyes . . .
ANOTHER GOOD IDEA—UNCLE KIKI SAID THE SAME, TONY OUGHT TO WATCH ARCHIE CONDUCTING!
Is there any way to get a last flare of light and feeling, very subdued since Archie is near death, but get that feel for that energy surging one last time through him as Archie imagines the music and orchestra coming together as one under his leadership—especially if this is something that he composed—his dream come true. MAYBE HE CONDUCTS THE ORCHESTRA THAT PERFORMS THE SONG THAT DOESN’T WIN.
And if he is conducting something he’s composed, if that could be just a bit clearer somehow, that would be good too.
What’s good about Greg’s recommendations is that rather than being cuts, he’s pointing out opportunities to get more out of the scenes that are IN the script already. Things I can deal with, by thinking about.
MAY 13, 2015
Now it’s Wednesday, so I need to give Rachel (asst.) the tag for my trousers and ask her to pick up. I am rapidly approaching the first reading of SHORT DV here in OKC and am excited. It will be a day of work with the actors, first having them read the long script; then two readings of SHORT DV, first stop and go with discussion, and then lastly once straight through with no interruption.
I think I’ve pretty much covered everything; and Ellie and Gia seem up and proceeding. So now I should just relax, do my exercises, and make my way over to OCCC.
God is merciful, gracious, and creative and we wish to follow in those ways. Remember, every day make a fellow creature have a happy day.
quick journal: THINGS THAT COULD GO WRONG
— transitions not accomplished ON TIME
— bad switching because of me
— bad roll up on VT and VT PGK’s
— bad sound—can’t hear actors
— actors can’t hear cues (mainly as with Tony in Silverfish and Darryl on stage)
MAY 15, 2015
Great first day (readings) of SHORT DV. Today is theater games and improvs—perhaps group improv going through “lunch” in which they prepare any number of the sets, and all visit each other’s places (some sort of celebration) wherein they prepare cold cuts and other types of food, and eat and act together. All is well—the text has richness, humor, feeling. The final one could almost be ever ongoing: interesting.
MAY 16, 2015
Interesting day #2, many
theater games, one improv: Archie first meeting Chiara as a kid. Then we did a big group improv on the stage, with the actors helping set up areas, and then each with the different objective I gave them, preparing and actually having lunch together while they were hungry. It was long, and there were a few nice moments. Filomena tends to talk too much, always trying to dominate the scene, whereas the real Filomena was taciturn, strong, and didn’t need to talk too much.
All in all a good day. Now today (Saturday, Day #3), Mihai is coming, and I’ll try to give the camera persons their assignment: (how to test), ask them to do a composition on a group of actors with a specific (the same) lens and judge, who did them best? And in order, assign one to Archie; one to Chiara—or premier principals, and then master shot, eccentric shot, moving shot, etc.
Tried to fall asleep last night with music but it never shut off and I was awake tossing and turning. Not such a good idea. Hope I’m awake today, as when Mihai leaves, we need to have a good idea of lighting philosophy and composition style. Also how to deal with b.g., as in Dogville, etc?
MAY 18, 2015
Today, MONDAY, I have to hit the mat hard and stage both part 1 & part 2 of the SHORT DV, and be pretty aware of the camera angles. So I should use my Leica finder. Maybe I ought to do a fast read-through while I ask Steve to lay out tables and chairs for all those scenes or be ready to do so after each one is staged.
This is my chance to catch up and be very SPECIFIC about the logic of blocking and camera shots. So far so good, I have done much in the first three days, so now it’s Monday and DAY #4 and I must push forward.
Live Cinema and Its Techniques Page 10