|
|
Q. I looked at the mysterious face in the funeral scene of "The Godfather" last night (Answer Man, Dec. 2), and I think I can explain it. Before Michael stands up, you can see a glare on the lens, but it is not discernible as a face because it is on a white background. When Michael shifts, so that his suit provides a dark contrast, the glare depicts the face of his mother, who in the scene immediately preceding is seated next to him. Presumably, the actors remained in place for the closeup shot of Michael (Coppola mentioned the shots were done in a hurry), and what we are seeing is a fluke of light, distortion, shadow, and lens peculiarity; the flared edge of the lens picks up the light from just out of the frame. (Mike Spearns, St. John's Newfoundland)
A. Many readers wrote in with theories, but you hit the ghost on the head. After two AM readers spotted the face, I queried Francis Ford Coppola, and he requested Kim Aubry, producer of the "Godfather" DVDs and his VP of post-production and technology, to look at the scene. Aubry writes: "Look closer, especially at the preceding shots. It's Morgana King (who is sitting next to Pacino) being reflected, probably by a filter in the matte box, explaining the orange hue. Look again even more closely. What is less explained: Why is she chewing gum at her husband's funeral?!? Francis and I just studied this little scene on the DVD, and her gum chewing was especially vexing to him and amusing to me. (Of course, she thought she was off camera.) We get so much bogus stuff that it was fun to check out a real one, and it turns out not to be an artistic trompe l'oeuil, but a GOOF! Love it!"