The Godfather, 1972 | Christie's

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The Godfather, 1972

Details

The Godfather, 1972
A rare set of first, second and third draft screenplays from the 1972 Paramount Pictures film The Godfather, working copies used by the original assistant director Stephen Kesten with various annotations and revisions; the first draft undated, with handwritten annotations and scene headings dividing the script into shooting scenes, including a photocopied loose lined notebook page with an aerial sketch of Macy's Department Store with handwritten direction annotations detailing it as Set #10 and describing the exit where Tom Hagen is to be met by Virgil 'The Turk' Sollozzo as the attempted assassination of Don Vito Corleone unfolds; the second draft dated March 1, 1971 with revisions, printed scene headings added, handwritten annotations making note of characters and scene details; the third draft dated March 29, 1971, with scene sequences revised in places; the three scripts providing a unique opportunity to see the early reworkings of The Godfather film

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Lot Essay

Wanting to remain loyal to the novel, Paramount Pictures hired author Mario Puzo in April, 1970 to write the first draft of the screenplay. When Francis Ford Coppola was hired as director in September, 1970, he took on the role of scriptwriting; I did my own version of the screenplay, then I contacted Mario and we collaborated. It is from this collaboration that the first draft was produced, loyal to Puzo’s plot, characters and themes, Coppola cinematised the novel; The art of adaptation is when you can do something that wasn’t in the literary source but is so much like the source that it should have been. Working to a tight preproduction schedule, it is believed that limited copies of this first draft were produced, with no documented examples in public archives. Believed to be the first copy to have come to auction, as part of a complete set used by the original assistant director, this lot presents an important record of the development of The Godfather

Stephen Kesten was hired as the Assistant Director on The Godfather, however parted ways with Coppola during filming. Although Kesten is credited in a number of film databases, he is not credited in The Godfather.

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