STUDIO MAGAZINE On the tracks of Scorsese Typed with love by Pat_ of Montreal! January, 2001:STUDIO MAGAZINE Part 4 I decide to keep on going more to the North side. I come across a town! It is even bigger than I have expected and more impressive. The streets are vacant. Apparently, there will be no shooting here today. I am now among the frontages that yesterday I could only glimpse at from the outside. It is very much like being in a western. There is no way to get any closer - here to, vigils are present - but I can see that there are houses made in bricks and wood, old grocery stores, a few bars, a saloon, and old grimy buildings with signs such as « Gaz no 1 », « Old Brewery ». Not far away a huge pool where 2 large sailing ships are anchored: the East River harbour. This is New York in 1860. One has the feeling that these structures have always been here. What a strange vision to see a city looming up from its past like a ghost! A city that no longer exists but seems so real to me, and ready to come alive again, thanks to a wizard named Scorsese who chose to film here a page of the American history… An Italian colleague of mine advised me to fix a meeting with the team of Paso Doble films, the company that produces 'I Moi Viaggio' in Italia, Martin Scorsese’s documentary on Italian cinema. The film was to be introduced at the Venice festival but the director taken by Gangs of New York prefered to postpone the presentation in order to show a more complete work. Dynamic, fluent in English and French, and with a very high regard for Scorsese, the producer Giuliana Del Punta, confided to me that the director shares with her some rare private thoughts on Gangs of New York. « I think that this movie represents a considerable stake to him. On one part, because his last one (Bringing out the Dead) didn’t work, and on the other, because it’s the first time that he works with Miramax and has such a big budget at his disposal. Last year, in Venice, he told me, "I dream of making this film. I’ve been trying to produce it for six years." Can you imagine, Martin Scorsese having difficulty finding a producer? Incredible is it not? And then, he had problems with the casting; the actors said yes, then no because the dates of the shooting were not definitive. Finally he hired a new agent and went to Michael Ovitz. At that moment things got underway and he had Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio. Giuliana also remembers a conversation about Daniel Day-Lewis whom Scorsese entrusted with the part of Bill the Butcher after both De Niro and Willem Dafoe had retracted (by the way, De Niro will still hold a little part in the movie). « Scorsese told me that Daniel Day-Lewis didn’t want to make films anymore and was now learning how to become a shoemaker from a craftsman in Tuscany. But - try to find out how - he succeeded in convincing him. I must say that Marty possesses incredible charisma. He speaks fast and comes straight to the point. » And when I ask her what she thinks of the rumors that Scorsese would have come shooting in Italy because labor in cheaper, she replies : « It is true that at first a budget was made to film in London. It was rejected for being too expensive. But I don’t think this is the only reason why he has chosen to come here. First, there is the fact that the part of New York he wants to show doesn’t exist anymore in Manhattan today. Second, I think that Scorsese wants to get closer to his Italian roots. He is making a documentary on Italian cinema and restoring Italian films. He recently had a daughter to whom he gave an Italian name : Francesca… He is a very happy to be here. » The producer also confirms to me what I’ve already known. That it is the director’s main concern to keep the same collaborators around him - he adores working with the same people. He feels protected by them. For instance, the editing of the documentary, he didn’t want anyone but Thelma Shoonmaker who has been working with him for nearly 30 years. » The widow of the British director Michael Powell - for whom Scorsese has an indelible admiration. Thelma Shoonmaker collaborated on more than 20 occasions with Scorsese and has even received an Oscar for Raging Bull. Today she is of course, by the director’s side. « She started to edit Gangs of New York after only 2 days of shooting because Martin already wished to see the results. » I try to get in touch with her. But she says she has no time to see me, that she is too busy with the editing of the film. Too bad! Or perhaps, she is a also a little frightened by the idea of going against the rule of silence imposed by the Master. Among Martin Scorsese’s faithful collaborators working on Gangs of New York, there is also the photography director, Michael Ballhaus with whom he’s already worked 8 times, his dedicated assistant director Joseph Reidy, and the casting director Ellen Lewis who is used to manage a great number of extras - it was she who supervised the impressive casting of Kundun. Another pillar of the Scorsese clan, the Italian designer Dante Ferretti who collaborated with Pasolini, Fellini, Terry Gilliam, and who over the last year has undertaken the task of reconstructing the American metropolis of another time. Once more, he has surpassed himself. Here at Cinecittà such a setting had not been seen since Mankiewicz’s Cleopatra. What I’ve seen of the set, precisely, has been haunting me ever since. How can one be so realistic and poetic at the same time? So careful of details over such gigantic spaces? I’m dying to meet the man who succeeded such a feat. There again, luck is on my side. I gave him a call yesterday while he was at work and got an appointment with him today in his office at Cinecittà. Shall I by chance, have the priviledge of a guided tour of the reinvented New York? « No ». No more than I have access to the Fellinian studio no 5 where on a 3000 square foot area have been restored the interior of a crumbling brewery - the gangsters’ hideaway, the hub where criminals meet, the opium den, and various houses such as the one that belongs to Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio). Ferrettti whines at me from the start: he has no right to talk about the film, but is willing to speak to me about his work in general. He is the one who persuaded Scorsese to come to Rome for the filming. « He had decided to shoot in Europe and I said : « Why not Cinecittà? » DANTE FERRETTI : « I’m a maximalist megalomaniac! » A brief encounter with the designer of Gangs of New York (in Cinecittà) When entering Dante Ferretti’s office in Cinecittà, the visitor is greeted by a huge moon-shaped face in golden bronze, a relic of the film The Adventures of Baron Münchausen. The walls are covered with large and meticulous drawings that evoke New York in mid-19th century. These are the sketches for the settings of Gangs of New York. His working table is layered with dozens of books and illustrations cut out of old magazines. Friendly and glowing in his fifties, the man is obviously happy despite the load of work that still awaits him. In fact, Dante Ferretti is very glad to find himself back again in his stronghold at Cinecittà, where he has had his own ways. This is where his career took off in 1970 under the direction of Pier Paolo Pasolini with The Poet>. Together they produced Medea, Decameron, Les 1001 Nuits. In the meanwhile, he worked for Marco Ferreri, Lilliana Cavani… In 1980, Fellini called on him. This was to be the encounter of two boundless imaginations. « We used to talk for hours. He tried to communicate to me his dreams. Fellini would never provide anyone with a scenario of his, because he couldn’t simply complete any! » It was at that time, while working on La cità delle donne, that he first met Scorsese. « Martin adored Fellini and came to see him, and on the same occasion told me his appreciation for my work on Pasolini’s films. » But this very first meeting didn’t go any further, and Ferretti carried on his work for the Maestro. For him he conceived the glorious boat of 'E la nave va' and added bitterness to the dance steps of Ginger and Fred. The whole world now called upon Ferretti. He said yes to Jean-Jacques Arnaud for 'The Name of the Rose' and accepted with pleasure when Terry Gilliam asked him to imagine the ravings of Baron Münchausen - which earned him his first nomination for an Oscar. What Ferretti likes best is challenge, and that’s precisely what Scorsese has been always offering him. On their first collaboration for The Age of Innocence in 1993, he asked him to re-create New York in the late 19th century. « I hesitated, because I first thought the job didn’t seem to suit me. But Marty convinced me, and I greatly valued his European sensitivity. » A few years later Scorsese approached him to work on the 1970’s Las Vegas for Casino. Then again Ferretti hesitated. « This is the work for an American », he said. « An American won’t do better that you », replied Scorsese. For the director - and for Kundun- he later reinvented Tibet in Morrocco, and then immersed himself deeply in New York’s nightlife for 'Bringing out the Dead'. « I have produced four films with Scorsese before 'Gangs of New York'. We make a team now. He tells me what he wants exactly, gives me a scenario and we discuss it. Then I begin to work. It’s fantastic to collaborate with Martin : he liked everything I’ve made for him… well at least, until now! » And here he is today, bringing up again a city from an age that no longer exists. A fine eclectic he is! « It’s easy, he says with coolness, I’m a juke-box. Someone pushes a button and I play a record. Sometimes it is opera, and sometimes rock. I adore waltzing between different periods. » And for a better dance, he prepares himself intensively. « I want to see everything, read everything. Then, when I’ve got the feeling to grasp most of it, I close my books and try to experience the mood of an age and get into the skin of the people who lived at the time… But I also like to take liberties with historical documents… » Ferretti is well known for enjoying impressive settings too. « It’s true, he laughingly admits. I’m a maximalist megalomaniac » and Gangs of New York is far from tampering this image. He saw BIG. In the 5 thousand square meter pool where Fellini’s ship used to float, he reconstructed the historical port of New York, and nothing less. « Sometimes, he confesses, the challenge seems so mad that I wish I could disappear underwater. » But as much as he likes gigantic settings, he possesses an incredible sense of details and perfection. « I love my work, he simply explains. A few years ago I spent lots of time on a huge setting for a period movie but when I saw the rush the background was all black and nothing could be seen of my work ! I immediately went to the chief operator and director and told them that they were mad. Their answer was that the streets were likely kept in the dark at that time. So I told the producer that his money was being thrown away, and the following day the whole scene was being reshot.» Every day he takes to the shooting of Gangs of New York. «I still have many settings to build. His cell phone is ringing. Scorsese needs him on set no 5. And Ferretti becomes a figure among all the others crossing Cinecittà....... |
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