Carmine Coppola

Godfatherly Music 1990

Carmine Coppola, LA 1990

(L-R) Engineer Joel Moss and Carmine Coppola, LA 1990

How are things going with Godfather III?

I hope I get it done! We haven’t even spotted the film, marked all the music cues yet.

Is it typical that things are so rushed?

Well, I need some time to compose. It’s not for five pieces—you should see the score papers, they’re a mile high. It’s a symphonic score and there’s a lot of instruments on the page.

Is this continuing some of the themes that have been in the earlier films?

Francis would like to make this Wagnerian, in the sense that Wagner used leitmotifs. In III we’re using some of the Rota themes and some of mine. There will be “Michael’s Theme,” for instance, which is a very dark, foreboding theme. There will be the “Love Theme,” which the whole world knows.