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Join Telegram Channel“You'll thank me when you win the Oscar,” Robert Towne told Francis Ford Coppola after rewriting the sequence for Al Pacino and Marlon Brando. The most famous of the “script doctors” has died, aged 89.
Reshoots have a bad press. These additional shots, which occur after the theoretical end of filming, today symbolize the lack of freedom of directors, who find themselves (more or less) forced to make changes by the studios. This was recently the case of Suicide Squad (to inject humor) or Rogue One (to add the epic final scene with Darth Vader).
Yet there is nothing shameful in shooting extra scenes and reworking a script along the way. Especially when it is requested by the director himself. Some of the greatest films in the history of cinema have gone through this process. And The Godfather (1972) by Francis Ford Coppola is undoubtedly the most striking example.
In May 2022, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its classic at the Beach Cinema in Cannes, First took a behind-the-scenes look at the writing of the Godfatherand the collaboration between the filmmaker and his “script doctor”, Robert Towne. A talented author who has just passed away at the age of 89.
In tribute to this Hollywood screenwriter who left such a mark on the history of American cinema in the 1960s and 1970s, we are re-sharing this article on the making of this classic of the 7th art.
The Godfather is being re-released in a restored version for its 50th anniversary: ​​trailer
At the end of filming the GodfatherCoppola is tying himself up in knots. The film doesn't work. It lacks a reconciliation scene between Vito Corleone and his son Michael to wrap up the story. Problem is, it doesn't exist in Mario Puzo's novel. Desperate, Coppola calls his friend and screenwriter Robert Towne for help. Towne had saved Bonnie & Clyde a few years earlier and would establish himself as one of the greatest writers of Hollywood in the 1970s, notably by signing Chinatown.
There is an emergency, there is only one day of shooting left with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino and the director has nothing at all. The challenge is enormous for Towne. He must invent a scene that hits the mark and is consistent with the rest of the film. And he only has a few hours ahead of him. He recovers notes from the original script and works all night. By 4am, he has finished writing the scene. Then comes the time to present the result to Brando.
“He was in his makeup chair and he asked me to read the scene to him.“, Towne recalled in a 1998 interview.It immediately pissed me off, I said to myself: 'this bastard knows how intimidating it is to do that'. I immediately gave up on reading the scene to him properly, because acting for Brando was not a mistake I was going to make. I read it to him and he asked me to read it again. Then he did something I've only experienced once since with Tom Cruise: he dissected the scene, line by line, word by word. He wanted to know absolutely everything I could tell him about this dialogue..”
This father-son sequence, where Don Vito reveals to Michael that he wanted to see him become a senator before business caught up with him (“I never wanted this for you“) is of a confusing simplicity and effectiveness. Just like the setting: this relaxing little garden where the Godfather sips his glass of wine while rewriting history…
First castings: Robert De Niro, 27, for The Godfather
Coppola is delighted with the result.”Francis asked me if I wanted to be credited on the screenplay,” Towne explained, still in the same interview. “I answered him : 'But for what fucking reason? It's just a scene. When you win the Oscar, you'll thank me for the scene.'
Towne has a good nose. At the 1973 Oscars, The Godfather wins Best Picture and Best Adaptation.”It was obvious. I had seen 75 minutes of footage and I was flabbergasted. I told Francis that it was the best thing I had ever seen in my life.“
When Coppola comes to collect his statuette, he of course keeps his promise by thanking “Bob Towne for the superb garden scene“. The general public then discovered the name of this little-known author who would win his own Oscar the following year, that of best original screenplay for the Chinatown by Polanski.
To learn more about The Godfathergo to our online kiosk : the film was on the cover of First Classics No. 18 (January-March 2022). The opportunity to return in detail to its very complicated manufacturing, which is also recounted in The Offera series broadcast on Paramount+.
The chaotic filming of The Godfather is at the heart of The Offer [bande-annonce]