The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

The Godfather
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ing. The way he filmed it was simple enough that the audience got the thunderbolt
the way Michael did. I’d even go back and look at the coverage if I
were to do a scene that reflected that.
And then that day the car bomb goes off. You see his driver, his bodyguard
runs, and then, boom! It’s really a testament to Coppola’s awareness
of how people watch movies to say: “OK, I can get away with showing that
one movement. I don’t have long before the audience is going to get it and
then be bored, but I got to give it away just as it’s happening so that you’re in
Michael’s point of view.” And then the way it hardens him is extraordinary.
He realized that people can get to him and he still can get hurt this way.
Peirce: Do you mean it’s the end of Michael’s innocence?
Finishing off whatever amount he had left, yes.
Peirce: Yeah, and then he comes back to America, and he’s ready to clean
house. I think that’s the other reason; over time it’s seeping into people’s
consciousness in a deeper way. There’s an inherent sense of scope. He’s the
young military guy, then he’s the gangster, then he goes all the way to Rome,
and he has a possibility of another life, and then he comes back. We don’t
have that many movies that have that kind of scope. What can you compare
to The Godfather?
I’m curious what the draw for women would be to The Godfather,
because this film is largely about men in a man’s world and, from Kay’s
[Diane Keaton’s] point of view, about the futility of women in this world.
Peirce: Well, I’m unusual, compared to most women. Both my movies deal
with masculinity and deal with relationships. In Boys Don’t Cry, it was a
woman who wanted to be a man among other men. In Stop-Loss, it’s about
these guys who go to war, and they feel what real love and meaning in life is
when they’re willing to die for something. So I think I’m different than most
women in my basic outlook and my socialization.
I love worlds of men, but I also think that, as a New Yorker, the humor of
the movie is incredibly satisfying. And the familial stuff—the eating and the
love and the camaraderie and this sense of these little fights—I don’t think
it’s a gender thing, but I think it’d appeal to all people.