American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 48

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Persistence of Vision
*|*

Francis Ford Coppola

*|*

T

he Godfather was, at its beginning, a
very low-budget picture. I wanted
very much to make it in New York,
which the studio wasn't so interested in
doing. They wanted to make it in
Kansas City, and the script that existed
when I became involved was set in
contemporary times, in the 1970s. Even
the decisions to hire me, and to hire
[producers] Al Ruddy and Gray
Frederickson, were based on the idea
that they were going to make a very
inexpensive picture. When I did push to
have it made in New York, I started
thinking about who would be the key
[crew]. I didn't know much - I was
pretty young at the time, about 29 when
it started prepping - but I knew Aram
Avakian, the director of End of the Road,
and I considered him a good source of
information. I also thought Gordy's
work in End of the Road was exceptional, so I chose him.
There's an interesting document
that exists somewhere [in my archive].
Very early on, Gordon, [production
designer] Dean Tavoularis, [costume
designer Anna Hill "Johnnie"

48

October 2014

Johnstone] and I sat together and
talked for several hours about all of the
factors in the style of the movie. It was
in that conversation that [we decided]
the look would be very classical; that the
camera would not move unless the
actors were moving; that the imagery
would deal with the polarity of dark and
light. All of those principles were talked
about and laid out way in advance. We
had all just met each other for the first
time, but all of the stylistic ideas that are
in the picture came out of that source
memo. We all agreed on them. [Editor's
note: See selected excerpts from this
memo on page 60.]
I loved the look of the picture
from the day I saw the first shots. I very
much agreed with the style, but [what
caused] friction with Gordy was, first of
all, his totally irascible personality. It's
legendary now, but it was rough! I was
also working on another side of it all
with the actors. I was trying to get
performances that would be real and
compelling, and when we did certain
scenes, I balked a little at how tied
down to marks they were. I was trying

American Cinematographer

to encourage them to be alive, and be
truthful, and to play scenes that really
seemed as if they were happening. And
at the same time, we were giving them
marks and expecting them to stand here,
have a big argument, run around and
end up there. If they were another half a
foot from where the mark was, even if it
was a wonderful performance, [Willis
would] say, 'Oh, we have to do it again.'
Between being on the verge of
getting fired by Paramount and having
this grumpy guy making my life miserable every day, it was touch-and-go for
the first three weeks [on The Godfather].
But again, whenever I saw the footage,
I thought it was so beautiful that his
grumpy personality was well worth it!
But, like so many people with that kind
of personality, deep down he was an
extremely sweet guy - you could see it
whenever he was in the proximity of his
wife. When she showed up, he was the
most gentle.
The word he used a lot was
'structure,' and by that he meant that
when you lay out a scene and decide
how to shoot it, each shot [should have]

Photo from the ASC Collection.

Coppola
presents Willis
with the ASC
Lifetime
Achievement
Award in 1995.
Recalling their
work together
on The
Godfather,
Coppola says,
"There was a lot
to learn from
him, and I did
learn a lot. I was
young, so it was
good that
I had that
opportunity."



American Cinematographer - October 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2014

Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 1
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 2
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 4
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 5
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 6
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 7
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 8
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 9
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 10
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 11
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 12
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 13
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 14
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 15
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 16
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 17
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 18
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 19
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 20
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 21
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 22
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 23
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 24
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 25
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 26
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 27
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 28
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 29
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 30
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American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 33
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 34
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 35
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American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 38
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 39
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 40
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American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 43
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 44
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 45
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 46
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American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 48
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 49
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 50
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 51
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 52
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 53
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 54
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - I3
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - I4
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 55
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 56
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 57
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 58
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 59
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 60
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 61
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 62
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 63
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 64
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 65
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 66
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American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 70
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American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 73
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 74
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 75
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 76
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 77
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 78
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - I1
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - I2
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 79
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 80
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 81
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 82
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 83
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 84
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 85
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 86
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American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 100
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 101
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 102
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 103
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 104
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 105
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 106
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 107
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 108
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 109
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 110
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 111
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 112
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American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 116
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