If we can hardly imagine his cult trilogy Dollars, and even less his monument, which is Once in the West, his greatest success in France with more than 14.8 million viewers in 1969, Sergio Leone signed another masterpiece three years later. : Once there was a revolution. Unlike his previous works, but with a very picaresque spirit, this western does not have the dirty cult copies of the good, the bad and the ugly.
A masterpiece that Leone didn’t even have to create
But it still remains very powerfully dramatic, and infused with a powerful breath, Ennio Morricone’s sublime score. James Coburn is extraordinary as Sean Mallory, an Irish revolutionary specializing in explosives who is forced to flee his country and befriends Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger), a Mexican stadium robber caught up in the civil war against his will.
Between nourishing irony and pure tragedy, the film’s tone can seem disturbing. But it is perfectly maintained in a balance that in many ways would be dangerous for many filmmakers. But not in a genius like Leone. As such, we can’t even imagine what the film would have done in the hands of Peter Bogdanovich, who was originally supposed to direct it…
The latter also spent four months in Rome under Leone’s tutelage to develop a script that was not only rejected by Leone, but even by the studio, he recalled. In the end Bogdanovich in the United States. Long story short: the movie simply wouldn’t have been made if Leone hadn’t taken control.
“Tomorrow I will replace you because you are a lousy actress!”
If the relationship between Coburn and Leone was perfect, it was not exactly the case with Rod Steiger, who drove the filmmaker crazy until one day he exploded with rage. in the work Conversations with Sergio Leone By Noël Simsolo, published by Editions Capricci, the master returns in this episode.
“There are only problems with him. He thought I enjoyed speaking Italian, which sounded Russian. He pissed me off. He wanted to create a serious, completely cerebral character. A strange mixture of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. I don’t know how I tried to explain that he was playing a simple peasant and a thug. .
I managed to keep calm for a long week. I was calm when I made plans with Steiger twenty times. The team was amazed at my attitude. On previous shoots, they saw me throwing tantrums in similar situations.
The incident happened while we were shooting on a mountain fifty kilometers from Almeria. I was developing a plan with Coburn. And Steiger came to intervene. He told me that we didn’t want to exceed the schedule of the working day and we had to go home immediately. This signaled Coburn to follow.
So I cried, “If I want to shoot twenty-four hours straight, I’ll do it. And I don’t care if your name is Rod Steiger and you won an Oscar by mistake. Because you’re so crazy, and I know you and United Artists, Because you’re a bad actor.”
“Go get the bag of excrement that’s in his trailer.”
In the following days, inevitably, the tension was largely palpable between the two. To the point that Leone no longer spoke directly to Steiger, but went through the services of his assistant. “I had a very strict attitude. I didn’t speak directly. The assistant was acting as a relay. I said, ‘Go get this excrement bag that’s in his trailer.’ Tell me what I want. He does this in front of the camera.
And when Steiger was doing his job badly, I still talked to the assistant: “We’re cutting. Tell this guy his stuff is bad. I show what I want to do. And let him do it without moving his ears or flaring his nostrils. Let him do it normally! Normal! He never knew how to play. Let him forget about his acting studio!”
On the fourth day, Rod Steiger went to Leone, apologized for his attitude, and offered to terminate his contract, without trial, if he no longer wanted it. “From that conversation, everything changed. He became as obedient as an eight-year-old child. He wondered, however, why I made him repeat his plans thirty times, when I was content with a shot or two of Coburn after twenty years. -Five takes, Steiger was too tired to bring his tricks out of the actor’s studio.
Source: Allocine
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
