The Making of 'Amadeus'

That was an incredible scene. It was Fourth of July.

And, of course, that's not a holiday there…

…80 we were working. And we were shooting an opera scene.

The camera was behind the stage, over the singers and dancers…

…seeing the whole theater full of the audience.

So we had, like, 500 extras there. So I said, "Roll it, playback."

And suddenly, instead of Mozart's music…

…the American national anthem starts to play.

And out of the flies came this huge American flag…

…that unrolled on the stage.

And 600 Czechs stood up and sang the U.S. national anthem…

…and knew the words.

I get goose pimples when I think about it.

All the extras either sang or hummed "The Star-Spangled Banner” with us.

All stood up except 30.

Men and women, standing, panic on their faces…

…looking at each other, what they should do.

That were the secret police dispersed among the extras.

And I was thinking, "Good God, the army's gonna come…

…and we're all gonna go to jail. Because this is an act of rebellion.”

It started when we crossed the border. In customs they said, "You can go on."

Milos said to me, "You're now in Czechoslovakia, forget logic."

Only in a taxi did I learn…

…we were going to a play about a composer.

I thought, "I'm going to faint."

Milos made a great fuss and said:

"Oh, no, I hate biographies of musicians…

…and that kind of thing. I loathe it. No, I'm not coming.”

In communist countries they love to make movies about composers.

Because composers make music. They don't say anything subversive.

And they were the most boring films I ever saw.

So I was prepared for a painful evening.

The curtain went up, and there is this wonderful drama.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

I was introduced to Milos in the interval.

Peter was nervous. I met him the first time that night.

And he said to me, with the marvelous directness that characterizes him:

"If the second act is as good as the first, I will make a movie of it."

I called Mr. Zaentz…

…only to find out he already had the play on his list of what to see.

And that's how it all started.

I thought it was a great play. It really worked for me.

He said, "Well, what about a picture?" I said, "It's not a picture.

I don't think it's a picture.”

I said, "There's not enough about Mozart for me."

And then Milos hit me on the arm, I still have the bruises…

…even though that was 20 years ago.

He said, "That's right. It needs music, Mozart and music."

And Milos invited me up for the weekend…

…to his house in Connecticut.

And he was just as forthright then.

We spent an extraordinary weekend in which he said to me:

"You realize that everything will be different.”

In the theater, everything is stylized.

Nobody pretends a tree is a real tree or a sunset is a real sunset.

So in the language when it's stylized, it's proper.

Acting is a little exaggerated and stylized, and it's proper.

Film is a photography. In photography, everything is real.

Anything stylized would feel, you know, fake.

What we ended up doing was spending…

…four months together in his house in Connecticut.

Monday to Friday…

…we were locked into what we came finally to regard as our prison.

And then we would go back to New York on the Friday…

…and instantly separate. And not exchange a word…

…for a blissful Saturday and blissful Sunday…

…till the evening when he would come here to my flat to collect me…

…and drive me back to prison for the next…

…almost unendurable five days…

…when we slowly hammered out the whole script, moment by moment.

They had some bumpy bumps in the road along the way.

I spoke to both of them at different times, and both used terms…

…you don't use in mixed company about each other.

Well, no, we had a big conflict, you know, big conflict.

Because I hated his cooking, and he hated my cooking.

I regarded both of us as the odd couple.

On the other hand, we had an enormous advantage to have the music before.

For example, every day, we spent a couple of hours…

…just listening to the music, to Mozart's music.

And then picking pieces which would fit here or would fit there.

And that humbled Peter Shaffer. The music humbled Peter Shaffer.

Suddenly you start to play music and you start to say the lines.

And Peter himself was, "No. Stop talking. Stop talking."

I said to Milos that I did not want repetitions.

I did not want the Mozart theme.

I did not want one piece of music.

It was not in the background, cueing the emotion we should feel.

But it was, in fact, the foreground.

Peter Shaffer one day said:

“"Listen, the music is becoming the third character of this film."

I think possibly the first film that has music as its leading character.

We met in the airport in New York to discuss it:

Peter, Milos and Saul Zaentz.

And they proposed this as a project.

I had less than an hour to think about it…

…because I was moving on to catch another plane from another airport.

Immediately, apart from being slightly flattered they thought of me…

…I thought of it as a project which, so long as it didn't develop…

…into a Hollywood scenario, I would be very interested in.

And he said, "I would, under one condition.

That not one note of Mozart will be changed.”

"You have our word."

We had no idea what the film was going to look like.

Although I knew the play, I'd seen the play…

…I knew that once Milos got his hands on it…

…it would be a completely different animal.

We are rolling, stand by for speed.

And action anytime, please.

Your Excellency… Let's cut. Give him some water.

All right, let's… It's fine. It's perfect.

Casting is enormously important because that's finally whom the audience sees.

My ideas mean nothing if what I see on the screen, I don't believe.

It was an interesting situation because a lot of big names wanted to play…

…especially Salieri and Mozart, right?

And I somehow felt, "I don't want to see known faces.

I want people to see Mozart and Salieri."

Both Saul and Peter, you know, agreed.

"No, we don't need stars. We don't need big names.

We have Mozart and his music. And we believe in the movie."

Mozart was tough to cast.

This man had written his first concerto at the age of 4…

…his first symphony at 7, a full-scale opera at 12!

Did it show?

Which one of them…

…could he be?

When you look at the portraits of Mozart from the time…

…you notice an interesting thing: none looks like the other.

He must have had a very nondescript face…

…that you wouldn't notice him in the crowd at all.

So he couldn't be a leading-man type, you know, a leading-hero type.

But he has to be a wonderful actor, and he has to master the music.

He was very hard on me, and he was quite gentle with the others.

Then in the process, I learned. On one day…

…I spent maybe six to eight hours in a screen test.

Every 20 minutes, other actors came in, and I played opposite them all day.

And so I got to watch Milos working…

…every 20 minutes with a different set of actors.

Very good. No, that's fine. That's enough. You still…

Oh, I walk out!

And then I began to understand that the people…

…who I was assuming he was most interested in…

…because it was clear from their work…

…he was also treating the same way as he treated me.

And the people you felt weren't gonna be the right combination…

Thank you, Milos.

…are the people there was a more gentle relationship with.

We auditioned over 1000 people for all the parts.

I think the number we had at one time was 1263, and we weren't finished.

I know someone ran a tally, but we were not finished.

I'm sure we passed close to 1400.

It seemed like I was auditioning for a year.

In retrospect, what we were really doing was rehearsing.

I wasn't actually auditioning anymore. I guess was rehearsing. Ha, ha.

I thought I was still working to get the part.

But in that time I thought, "This is a wonderful project…

…and he's a great director, and I'm lucky to be still here.”

Of course you start with the main characters…

…and then you go down.

But down doesn't mean less important. I think the small parts…

…are as important as the main characters.

In a certain way, I pay more attention to casting the small, bit part…

…because once you see them, you will never forget them.

Nothing drives me more crazy when I am watching a film…

…and somebody appears, then disappears and then reappears.

And he looks like the guy who was just there, and I'm mixing…

"Who is he? Who is she?"

Milos called me and said:

"Vinnie, I would like very much for you to be in Amadeus.

It is not a very big part, but I would love you to be in it."

One day, I was reading…

…F. Murray Abraham for a small part in the movie.

And he was all right.

And then I had a young actor come in reading for Mozart…

…and I asked F. Murray, "Listen, would you just help me here.

This is just to help, read Salieri for this young man."

And F. Murray…

…probably because, you know, now it doesn't matter…

…gave a wonderful performance.

I did one of the things from Salieri.

Then I stopped and said, "Milos, this is where he becomes the old man."

Which I hadn't really worked on. And he said:

"Well, do the old man."

And I did the old man. I didn't think I was gonna get this thing.

But I still acted my heart out.

He read so beautifully that it started to bug me, you know?

He called and said, "I want you to know you're my first choice.”

And I had been around for a while, you know, and I said:

"Well, that's nice. I'm very happy about it, but what does that mean?”

See, he wasn't saying, "You got the part,” or, "There's no question about it."

He said, "You're my first choice."

Now, from my point of view, that doesn't pay the rent.

I mean, I'm very flattered, and I said, "Thank you, Milos.

Just tell me what I have to do next because I'm busy painting my kitchen."

Some time went by and they said, "We want to see you for this improv group.”

I said, "No, I'm telling you, I'm not gonna do it."

Milos said, "That's the kind of guy who would be Salieri."

And I said, "Why do you say that?"

He said, "He's not gonna be happy about what I say." Milos or Murray.

He says, "Well, this guy thinks that he would be a great actor…

…if he didn't have breaks against him.