Andy Garcia Interview The Godfather Coda The Death of Michael Corleone

Andy Garcia Interview – The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone

We interview The Godfather Part III star Andy Garcia about the film’s recut, Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone and his role in the film.

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The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is here to end Michael Corleone’s legacy the way Francis Ford Coppola originally intended. The re-cut of Godfather III, out in theaters on December 4 and available digitally on December 8, seeks to edit the threequel more smoothly than its original Christmas Day deadline allowed in 1990.

Andy Garcia, who took on the role of Vincent Mancini thirty years ago, sat down with Screen Rant to reminisce about Coppola’s directing process and give his own perspective on film editing as a director himself.

When you read the script of the original Godfather III, how similar was that to the theatrical release the film?

Andy Garcia: There were some things that remained constant and a lot of things that changed during the course of developing the material, during rehearsal, during shooting. Dean Tavoularis, the production designer on all three Godfathers, once said that, “With Francis, the script is like a newspaper. It comes out every day.” Francis was in the exploration of this journey, so there was a lot of things that were fresh as we began; that happened as we made the film, that were not part of the original script that we started with.

When the film was originally released, what were you the most proud of, and was there anything that you disliked about the original cut?

Andy Garcia: I was so privileged to be associated with it. I was so proud of being a part of a trilogy of films that changed my life. I decided to pursue acting at the same time that I saw The Godfather, the first one. That’s what I wanted to aspire to, and the fact that I ended up in the third installment, the Coda, was a fulfillment of a dream.

Did you ever think that you would get to see a recut, like the Godfather Coda?

Andy Garcia: I knew Francis has a history of revisiting his films. A lot of times movies come out in a certain way, because of pressures of time, release dates, studio pressures on things they want in or not in. Francis has probably acquiesced to some and had to fit them in the timeline. In this case, the movie had to be released on Christmas Day, and I don’t think Francis has ever felt that he had enough time to find the movie that he’s showing you now.

He acquiesced to the date and was supportive of the studio. He changed the title because the studio wanted a different title, all those kinds of things, because he respects the studio and the investment they’ve made. But as an artist, he’s revisited Apocalypse. Now. The one he has now is his definitive version. Cotton Club, he did the same thing. There was a lot of pressure during Cotton Club to take sequences out, because people felt there were too many African Americans in the movie or something like that. And I was like, “What is that all about? That’s ridiculous.”

Francis probably felt like, “My work is not being represented the way I want it to be represented.” And he’s been able to go back in and say, “This is my legacy. This is what I intended,” and share it again, which I think is a beautiful thing.

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Some of your costars, such as Diane Keaton, have raved about the new edits and how they improve the film. Have you seen the new cut, and have you talked with your former costars about it?

Andy Garcia: Yes, we all saw it together at Paramount. Five of us – Al, Diane, Talia, and George Hamilton – at the screening room in Paramount. It was beautiful, and we were very emotional about it. The movie was has a clarity that’s has been enhanced now; the clarity of the plot specifically, and the reorganization of that has helped the weight of the film. You can really stay with Michael, and what he’s going through. I think this is a stronger version of the film, for sure.

I had no issues with the other one, because I knew the story, so you could organize it any way you want. Because I was inside of it. But I think this version is what Francis [wanted]. If he’s happy, I’m happy.

One of the things that I noticed is that Mary and Vincent’s romantic tension seems to be a little bit more effective. Can you talk to me about the difference between the original and this one for Mary and Vincent?

Andy Garcia: I don’t see what he changed about it, to tell the truth. If he did, he might have started things a little earlier or gotten into scenes a little later that came out a little sooner. Movies have beginnings, middle and ends of the scene, but in editorial you don’t necessarily show the whole thing. You can start in the middle or come out of it earlier; start at the beginning, but don’t go to the end.

There are choices that are made in a rhythmic pattern in the film. As Francis always said to me, “Sometimes people feel movies or are too long. And it’s not like you have to shorten the movie, but sometimes you have to put things back in so people don’t get lost.” The moment you get lost as the thread is being pulled of the narrative and of your emotional involvement, then the movie seems long. It’s not really a time thing; it’s an engagement thing.

I’m very proud of the work that Sofia and I did. I’m really proud of the work that she did in the movie; it’s very courageous. It’s very honest. It’s extremely soulful, and very deep. I’m very proud of the work we did, and I’ve always been proud of it. I think how her performance was judged when it came out it was really unjust.

We’re in this era where directors seem to be tinkering a lot more with their films, more recently with Zack Snyder and Justice League. Do you think as a director, and even as an artist, that a film is ever truly finished?

Andy Garcia: Well, there’s that old saying, “films are not finished, they’re abandoned.” In the editing room, it comes to the point where you say, “You got to lock the movie, it’s over. We gotta go.” In the case of The Godfather III, there was a release date of Christmas Day, and they needed to get the movie ready.

I think probably Francis always felt like, “I haven’t really finished with this film yet. But I’m gonna honor my word and give the movie up. This is a far as I can get to it at this moment.” That kind of thing. Not to say that the movie is bad, but I’m saying this as a creator. I’ve made movies myself, that I the produced or directed, that I would like to have the version that was my intention; that I had to reduce time or whatever it was. It would be nice to go back and just put all that stuff back in, because that’s all part of the story.

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That’s a natural thing for a director to, in a sense, want to revisit, I think.

This truly feels like an epilogue to Michael Corleone’s journey. Can you talk to me a little bit about why The Godfather has stood the test of time?

Andy Garcia: You’re scrolling through the television, and of all sudden it comes on, and you’re like, “There goes my golf game.” You’ve got to stick with it. “Oh my god, here we go again.”

I think, first of all, the first two movies can be considered two of the greatest movies ever made. And the novel itself was consumed by the world and appreciated, then when the movies came out, the entire attraction to it [became] the involvement with the Corleone family. Who is a crime family, but we’re rooting for them because they’re the good crime family. It’s the other ones that are bad. That love of the family, and the things that The Godfather pulls on, which are very identifiable: the love of a father, the protection of a family, and the betrayal of a family. They’re things that are very intense; emotional things that are explored in the novel and then later in the film. People just have always have responded to it.

30 years ago, when you were playing Vincent, what was it that you wanted to bring to the role that wasn’t on the page?

Andy Garcia: You want to serve as a story, and you want to serve what Francis’ intentions are, so those conversations would always go on. When I first got the part and we went to rehearse the movie in Napa Valley with Francis, we were there for a week at his home with the whole cast. Except at the time, it was Winona Ryder, but she was shooting a movie, so she wasn’t there. So actually, Sofia read her part during that week, just to sit in and be of service. With no intentions to play it or anything, it was just like, “Sofia will be reading that.”

I spoke to Mario Puzo to get some insight on Vincent. I said, “What can you tell me about Vincent Mancini?” And he said, “He has the smarts of Vito, the passion and strength of Sonny and the temper, the cold calculations of Michael, and the warmth of Fredo.” And I said, “Thanks a lot. Thanks for that. I’ll go work on that. I’ll be right back.”

I always had that in mind, really. That’s kind of a thing that I always had in mind, that the character had many dimensions. Although he’s a guy, as Al said the other day in an interview, “He’s dating my daughter, his first cousin. He’s a guy who’s got many women and he kills people. What is he doing with my daughter?” He has that side of him, but then at the same time, he has this yearning to be part of a family, which he’s never had. There’s a vulnerability to the character that’s also present in him, which I’m very proud of.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/godfather-3-andy-garcia-interview/

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