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1.) We’re honored to have with us as a special guest today producer and visionary extraordinaire, Justin Freer; greetings and salutations, Justin! Before we dive down the proverbial Q&A rabbit hole, how is the Autumn of 2022 treating you?
Just waiting for the weather out here to finally decide it’s fall instead of faking us all out with numerous fake falls. The trees are changing colors on cue though, so it’s beautiful.
2.) Major congratulations on your work as the producer for these upcoming October 29th and November 12th LIVE performances of the classic film score from The Godfather! As huge movie aficionados, this is right up our alley! We see this has been quite an undertaking, and that CineConcerts, Massimo Gallotta Productions, and Peter McDowell Arts Consulting are all involved. Can you talk with our readers about how this rather brilliant concept came about?
The Godfather in a live concert format dates back, gosh, around 7-8 years already. I had previously restored the incredible score from Gladiator for live to picture format with both Paramount and Universal. From that relationship at Paramount we pivoted to The Godfather as a concept. The studio loved the idea, we were humbled with support from the man, Francis Ford Coppola, as well. It took a good amount of time to restore this score to its proper glory on the stage. Most of the music was intact at the Paramount archives, much of it was still on onion skin and required I used soft white gloves to handle with care. Really amazing picking those pieces of history up with my own hands. Nino Rota’s score is of course so legendary, and with the added music from Carmine Coppola (Francis’ father) in the opening wedding scene, it makes for a truly amazing musical journey from start to finish. Now here we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest films and film scores ever conceived, it’s a real pleasure to continue to bring this to audiences around the world.
3.) What sort of challenges are inherent in pulling something like this off in front of a live audience who know Nino Rota’s legendary score by heart?
Easily the most difficult aspect of this production is keeping everything in synch with picture. Many conductors like to use what we call ‘click track’ which is an audible tempo that the conductor and performing orchestra can have in their earpiece to hear the proper tempo throughout the film. While there is a place for this in certain situations, mostly recording sessions, I stay away from click as often as possible as do my colleague conductors that are part of our creative teams when I’m not on the podium. So we do just about everything ‘to the stick’ which is to say it’s up to the conductor to keep everything in synch with just the baton and a conductor video with guides to help such as punches and streamers. Punches and streamers are visual guides that go all the way back to the Hollywood Golden Age and were pioneered by such composers as Max Steiner, Hugo Friedhoffer and the like to help keep the conductor in time on the podium.
4.) Did you take any inspiration (or notes!) from the 2002 live performance of the John Williams score for Spielberg’s E.T. during a 20th anniversary screening of the film?
I wish I could have been there for that! I remember that event, I was at UCLA as a composition student then and distinctly remember working on some music of my own throughout that weekend. John Williams is a wonderful inspiration for us all, but at that time never did I imagine I would be producing and conducting those very same types of concert formats many years later.
5.) Both Scott Terrell (LA performance) and John Jesensky (Chicago performance) are conductors and musicians of the highest caliber. How did you come to approaching them with the task of bringing Rota’s Godfather score to life for a live audience?
Both Scott and John I’ve worked with for several years. I enjoy that they are excited about great film music in the way I am. Great music is great music, it doesn’t matter the genre.
6.) Will Terrell and Jesensky – and the orchestras – attempt to be as lavish and faithful to Rota’s original music during this live performance? Getting the Chicago Philharmonic in particular is quite the feat.
The original score and all its glory will be performed with the greatest care. One of the main missions of CineConcerts is to present to audiences in a live setting, as closely as possible, the original intent of composer and director.
7.) How active was director Francis Ford Coppola in this production? Was he consulted during the early days of assembling this event? Can you tell us about what you went through to assemble the score?
We’re so happy to have Mr. Coppola’s support on this project. It’s a lovely story, towards the end of my working to restore the orchestrations I received a call from him. I recall he was so happy that this was taking place and he graciously offered to send copies of his father’s music from the opening wedding scene to help the restoration process. Like a kid in a candy store I reviewed all he sent and in the case of the Sicilian wedding scene with Michael and Apollonia it was quite revealing. That particular original audio track is quite difficult to hear, and faintly in the background is a lovely Euphonium counterpoint line. I was best guessing where some the counterpoint should be before I received that call from Mr. Coppola, but his having sent Carmine’s music showed the counterpoint exactly where it should be so there was no guesswork needed at that point. A really fun reveal.
8.) Walk us through the rehearsal process for an amazing event like this: Do the musicians essentially live and breathe every frame of The Godfather ad infinitum up to the time of the live performance?
Well we usually have two rehearsals, sometimes only one and then we perform. Pretty simple, but also stressful in that very little time is usually available to prepare for a show like this. This is where the wonderful professionalism of great performing musicians comes into play.
9.) In your opinion, why is Coppola’s The Godfather – and Rota’s score – so evergreen in our culture? What keeps audiences coming back?
It’s about storytelling, compelling storytelling, timeless storytelling. Both the film and the music achieve all of these and with great elegance.
10.) What makes both the Dolby in Hollywood and the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, IL perfect locations to host these rare concerts?
Being surrounded by thousands of other people when taking in an experience like this heightens the story and people’s connection to the characters and music I think. The shared experience aspect of this format in these wonderful halls is not something you can replicate in a movie theater, at home or even a small concert hall. These are truly see it to believe it concert experiences.
11.) Will members of the Rota family – and members of the cast of The Godfather and Coppola himself – be in attendance?
I don’t believe so.
12.) Can we look forward to you being involved in future film and live music performances? If so, we’d love to see you tackle the score for It’s a Wonderful Life (hint, hint)!
Well, It’s a Wonderful Life is on our roster and we do bring that one to halls every holiday season. Would love to keep that tradition going of course, the Tiomkin score is really amazing.
13.) Final – SILLY! – Question: Favorite sequel to The Godfather – Part II or Part III?
The Godfather Part II is a perfect film. Nothing more need be said!
