Just wrote to the author of a new book on Marlon Brando and the Los Angeles Times writer who interviewed her -- who praised Brando for writing the opening lines to The Godfather based on finding the original screenplay in his home library with his handwritten new lines. They forgot to look to the original novel where those lines FIRST appeared, written by Mario Puzo. I love Brando and appreciate his research - but it neednt be mistaken as rewriting -- now you can see how HARD it is to break the auteur theory idea that directors are the authors of their films. NO, writers ARE. Im cutting and pasting my letter here for the See More crowd... Hi Susan, Im a professor of film and television writing at CSUF and wanted to clarify a point made in Susan Kings very fine coverage of your new book on Brando. Im not sure if she misunderstood this point in your interview and didnt check it out or if she made it based on reading her book (and neither of you had checked it) but the discussion of the opening lines of The Godfather insinuates that Brando wrote the lines that are used in the film. All one needed to do was look to Mario Puzos novel to find those lines were written by Puzo and appear in the novel (But lets be frank here...you were afraid to be in my debt...you found paradise here in America... the police guarded you and there were courts of law etc). This means when Coppola co-wrote the screenplay (being a director and not a writer) he jettisoned Puzos original dialogue and added his own (believing it to be better). THEN when Brando read the novel as part of his thorough research he found the original lines more true to the character and therefore re-inserted them into the script. No one on set argued with him since they were lines from the book to begin with. I praise Brando for his deep research (and his acting talent) and (though Im Sicilian-American) I adore The Godfather. One of the issues of teaching film and television writing is overcoming the idea that the actors just make this stuff up and the writers are not that important. A mistake like this in print exacerbates the difficulties of my disproving that myth. I hope I dont come across as some petty, nit-picky academic - I spent 17 years as a television writer (and a lifetime as a film lover) so I know how hard it is to take some of the gloss off the celebrity directors (curse those French critics and their auteur theory) and attach it back to the writers (though that is easier in television, which is a writers medium). This article will make for a wonderful talking point in my class, where I have students watch and review The Godfather (and am often shocked to find it is the first time in their lives they are viewing the film). I look forward to reading your book and adding it to my choices for the reviews students must do in my classes. (Have you ever read The Godfather and American Culture by Chris Messenger)? Finally, Ill end with a story that always makes the students laugh - apocryphal though it may be. Tired of too often hearing Frank Capra talk about the Capra Touch making all his films marvelous, frequent Capra screenwriter (and Academy Award nominee) Richard Riskin (Meet John Doe, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town) is said to have once handed in 120 blank pages and said, Go ahead, put your F*&king touch on that!. So any clarification of the exact path Brando made to this rewrite would help my academic mission greatly. Dr. Rosanne Welch
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 17:18:06 +0000
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