Mandragora Group (Beyond The Hills) and Piano B Produzioni are teaming with helmer Giuseppe Tornatore for a documentary feature based on the life and work of legendary composer Ennio Morricone. Bobby Paunescu, Drago? Savulescu, George Shu and Serena Menarini are producing. Principal photography starts in August.
Sounds like a lovely payback for all the really wonderful scores Ennio has done for him. And having seen many of Tornatore's doc work and montages this may end up one of the best things he has ever done.
Maybe I am too big a fan but isn't this another example to put on the lengthy list of how Morricone separates from every other composer. Is there another example of a major director doing a full length documentary on his composer? Tributes yes, from Bryan Forbes on John Barry to Tim Burton on Danny Elfman, but a film (of whatever length) totally about their composer?
Maybe I am too big a fan but isn't this another example to put on the lengthy list of how Morricone separates from every other composer. Is there another example of a major director doing a full length documentary on his composer? Tributes yes, from Bryan Forbes on John Barry to Tim Burton on Danny Elfman, but a film (of whatever length) totally about their composer?
Good question. I can't think of any major director doing that (although there are plenty of composer documentaries, of course).
One of my biggest dreams is that Spielberg does this with Williams -- especially with all the footage he has from the recordings sessions etc.
Meanwhile, I look forward to this Morricone film with immense pleasure. That moment in the trailer when he mimics the coyote howl, should be turned into an 'internet meme' by someone.
Maybe I am too big a fan but isn't this another example to put on the lengthy list of how Morricone separates from every other composer. Is there another example of a major director doing a full length documentary on his composer? Tributes yes, from Bryan Forbes on John Barry to Tim Burton on Danny Elfman, but a film (of whatever length) totally about their composer?
Good question. I can't think of any major director doing that (although there are plenty of composer documentaries, of course).
One of my biggest dreams is that Spielberg does this with Williams -- especially with all the footage he has from the recordings sessions etc.
Meanwhile, I look forward to this Morricone film with immense pleasure. That moment in the trailer when he mimics the coyote howl, should be turned into an 'internet meme' by someone.
If Hitchcock had some perspective he would have done one with Herrmann. Come to think of it Truffaut did something with Delerue but it really doesn't count since it was an entertainment and not ABOUT Delerue.
Meanwhile, I look forward to this Morricone film with immense pleasure. That moment in the trailer when he mimics the coyote howl, should be turned into an 'internet meme' by someone.
Thor, I agree, it certainly "startled" me ! ........the man's "possessed" lol
"ayeee ayeee yaaaaaaaaaaaa !"............. (wah wah wah) all together now !
It looks like we are going to wait a long time for this according to this new interview.
"Coming Soon" indeed!
Variety:
I heard you are making a documentary about Morricone titled “The Glance of Music.” Can you tell me about it?
Yes, I started shooting it last year. I’m doing it working around my feature film duties. Last year I shot a massively long interview with him during which I think he told pretty much everything about his professional life. I’ve also done some other interviews and we are working on gathering more materials. Then there will be a fictional component that I will shoot at the end. But it’s going to take a while. I don’t think it will be ready for a couple more years.
Thanks for the updating. It's indeed a long way to go! I wonder what this 'fictional component' is supposed to be. In my opinion, it's a difficult challenge to direct such a documentary because there obviously was noone filming at the time when the Maestro was busy composing and recording in his heyday. So you are left with inserting excerpts from these legendary scores while he's taking about them or possibly showing excerpts live but either way, we always end up with a Morricone from 2015 or 2016 evoking his past works, like in the fragment where he's mimicking the coyote from GBU. So in the end you don't really feel how it must have been to work in those busy days.
The film is supposed to premiere on May 11 this year, providing that it hasn't been corona-postponed even further. Just glancing at the people involved in 'cast' on the film's IMDB profile, is a jawdropping affair:
