delli Colli on Leone & Morricone

Tonino delli Colli interviewed by Nighteagle

MM: When you took over the direction of photography, beginning with THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, one revolutionary method was introduced to generate the right mood, or state of mind among the actors during the shooting: the music of Morricone on the set. That was unprecedented on western movie sets.

TDC: Morricone and Leone, what a duo! One cannot be without the other. Yes, with THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY there were first attempts to bring in the "invisible actor", the music , into the scene. In ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST this become a completely developed technique. The music kept going and going, sometimes I had to tell Sergio to turn it down or cut if off, because I couldn´t be heard by my crewmen during a take. Sergio and Ennio had some fierce dabates often, but Ennio was more convincing. Sergio was kind of superstitious. He always selected tunes and melodies that other directors had refused previously. For example, in ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, the main theme was a love theme written by Ennio much before, for a movie of director Zeffirelli, a movie that was never realized. This happened quite often, Sergio retrieved pieces of music that Ennio had put away in some drawer...