Cinema Museum Leone talk with Sir Christopher Frayling

[Novecento]

Thanks Juan Miranda - sounds like a good evening.

...playfully speculating on how THE LEAPORD would have turned out if Leone had made it and not Visconti.

Out of curiosity, what did he think it would have been like?

He told me he wasn’t in any way involved it the work for the new print Leone’s children are producing but that he had seen the extra footage. He sounded enthusiastic summarising it until he described the Cleopatra sequence as “awful”. He hopes that down the line in the future he will be asked to provide a DVD commentary but then of course he’d “have to talk for even longer.”

Oooh lucky man to have already seen it!

Did he say why he didn't like the Cleopatra sequence. Was it the content or the way it was filmed or what 

Yes, a Frayling BD/DVD commentary would be very welcome indeed! They added one to the BD of GBU.

[Jordan Krug]

thanks so much for taking the time to post the photos and your report, very much appreciated by those of us who would have had to cross an ocean to attend!

[cigar joe]

You know, it came to me while reading your post, perhaps the most important/imperative question you/we could have asked him was whether or not he was familiar with this web board an would he consider posting here.

[Juan Miranda]

was whether or not he was familiar with this web board an would he consider posting here.

I did mention the Leone forum to him last time I met him at the premier of the restored print of Hammer's DRACULA a couple of years ago when I had the chace to chat for ages. I mentioned examples of some of the great detective work which had gone into some threads in particular (CJ's own Timeline for one), and while he acknowledged that there were many great fans of Sergio's movies "out there", I didn't get the feeling he would be rushing onto the web to join us here anytime soon, if ever.

As for a Leone THE LEOPARD, I think he's already made it in his head and is loving it. If nothing else he pointed out Visconti's picture was a commercial disaster in its day, something it most likely wouldn't have been if Sergio had brought his particular dynamism to it.

He didn't have time to elaborate on the awfulness of the Cleopatra scene as there was a line waiting to have a word with him. I quipped that "age can wither her" and let somebody else talk to him.

[drinkanddestroy]

You know, it came to me while reading your post, perhaps the most important/imperative question you/we could have asked him was whether or not he was familiar with this web board an would he consider posting here.

1. cigarjoe: I agree with you, but didn't Frayling indeed post here once? http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/forums/index.php?topic=7532.15

2. Juan Miranda; many thanks for the great report, and for asking Frayling my question about doing a dvd commentary for OUATIA. It would be absolutely amazing if he indeed does the commentary  

[dave jenkins]

Thanks, Juan, the board owes you a debt. Great, great pics! (What I wouldn't give to have seen Sir Chris working a hand puppet). 

[Novecento]

He didn't have time to elaborate on the awfulness of the Cleopatra scene as there was a line waiting to have a word with him.

According to Elizabeth McGovern on p.447 of Frayling's book, Leone "thankfully cut it out because it stopped all the action at a point where you couldn't afford the time suddenly to get used to the Shakespearean language... It was very strange to have a death scene Kabuki-style at that point in the movie".