I said to my collaborators and to the cast, 'This is what *The Godfather* is about.' It’s about the feudal lords, the kings, the emperors... I wanted the film to evoke that same kind of aristocratic splendor and melancholy.
This is what The Godfather is about. It's about the feudal lords, the kings, the emperors... I wanted the film to evoke that same kind of aristocratic splendor and melancholy.
— Francis Ford Coppola · Film Comment interview with Francis Ford Coppola by Noah Cowan (Nov/Dec 2004)
Visconti's work, and especially 'The Leopard,' has a way of portraying the passing of time and the melancholy of fading beauty that I find incredibly inspiring for my own films.
— Luchino Visconti · Los Angeles Times interview with Paolo Sorrentino (Jan. 21, 2014)
This is what The Godfather is about: the feudal lords, the kings, the emperors... I wanted the film to evoke that same kind of aristocratic splendor and melancholy.
— Francis Ford Coppola · Film Comment interview with Francis Ford Coppola by Noah Cowan (Nov/Dec 2004)