All language subtitles for Sad, Romantic Dracula

My life has always
revolved around music.

When I was a child, I was part of the
prestigious Cappella Giulia choir.

We performed at St. Peter's
Basilica for every solemn function.

Me and the other choirboys wore
those classic white and red robes.

I had a soprano voice. Music was
already influencing my life.

I knew I wanted to work with music
before I was even ten years old.

When I started
studying the piano,

I realized there was
something more than singing.

Piano became the
real deal for me.

Then I enrolled at the Pontifical
Institute of Sacred Music,

which is located at
Sant'Agostino in Rome.

That's where I studied to get the
most out of my passion for music.

All this is to give you an introduction on
how I started working in films.

My first contact in the
industry was Luchino Visconti.

A huge name, indeed.

Visconti was doing DEATH IN
VENICE, and he needed someone

who could write down some partitions
resembling the symphonies of Mahler.

The main character of the film
was somewhat based on Mahler.

So, after being approached
for the job by some friends,

I started writing partitions that
resembled Mahler's style.

Visconti was really impressed
by the final result.

There was another issue
to solve, though.

I don't know if you
remember this detail,

but both the young boy and one
of the leading actresses

had to play FUr
Elise on the piano.

But they were not good
pianists in the slightest

so Visconti asked me to
play it badly on purpose.

"Don't worry, I'll do
my worst," I told him.

It was really amusing to make
one mistake after another.

Then Visconti asked
me to write

the partitions for the main
pieces of music in the film.

As everybody knows,

the most important one is the Adagietto
from Mahler's Fifth Symphony,

which is played by one of the
leading characters in the film

during a scene where they
debate the aesthetics of music.

Beautiful dialogue in
that scene, by the way.

So, I was climbing the ladder, doing
more and more important jobs.

I also worked on Visconti's following
film LUDWIG, a four-hour epic.

Music is a key element
of the story,

which includes Richard
Wagner among the characters.

I actually appear in
one of the scenes,

conducting the orchestra during
the famous staircase scene.

I conduct the orchestra
as Wagner admires

the first performance of the
Siegfried ldyll he composed.

It wasn't a bad career start for
the twenty-something kid I was.

I could say I
started at the top.

Someone suggested my name
to Polanski for WHAT?,

as he was looking for some
younger, fresher names.

The same thing happened
with Paul Morrissey,

who was also looking for some
new talents to work with.

So I met with Polanski,
and after a brief chat,

he announced I'd score his film.
He said it there on the spot.

I was over the moon. Polanski
was one of my idols.

I mean, he was the mind
behind ROSEMARY'S BABY.

I obviously said yes and
put myself to work.

WHAT? widely featured arrangements
of pieces of classical music.

Mostly a selection of Schubert,
Mozart, and Beethoven.

It was an enthralling
experience,

and I could only describe Polanski
as an omnipresent genius.

He never lost track of anything.

It was like he had
12 ears and 48 eyes.

It was truly uncanny.

A kind man, also, which made for an
exquisite professional relationship.

He had a fantastic
sense of humor, too,

something I'd have never expected
after watching ROSEMARY'S BABY.

He was an all-around
lovely individual.

I guess that's how
true geniuses are.

I must admit I have a
really romantic nature,

so I couldn't stop seeing that side
despite all the madness in the film.

"Why don't we make a love
theme?" I asked Roman.

Something to captivate the audience
aside from all the shenanigans.

He said he'd think about it,

but he remained adamant about

the classical music bits
being a pivotal part of the story.

Schubert, Mozart, they were
as classical as it gets.

I couldn't convince him
about the love theme,

even though he liked the
pieces I submitted to him.

As a matter of fact, he was adamant
in helping me find those pieces a home.

That's when he introduced
me to Warhol and Morrissey.

They were shooting a movie in Rome a
short time after Polanski's film.

And that's how I found myself working
in those other weird, surreal pictures.

All thanks to Polanski.

I couldn't have asked for more.

Polanski had an exuberant personality,
and he spoke Italian fluently.

We understood each other perfectly, down
to the tiniest requests and motivations.

Working with him was a pleasure. It
was a bit harder with Morrissey.

We both had a language
barrier, unfortunately.

We always needed an interpreter
to properly communicate.

Morrissey basically
gave me free rein.

After approving the score
I wrote for the film,

he gave me free rein when it
came to the orchestrations.

I wrote, orchestrated, and conducted
both scores for those two films of his.

Polanski's WHAT? was different, as it was
just me arranging other composers' music.

Well, Morrissey and Warhol
had a villa here in Rome,

so they also had a local
branch of the Factory.

There were several different people
giving suggestions, ideas and so on.

There was a lot of activity.

But, of course, Morrissey and Warhol
were in charge of the project,

with those two films that were
scheduled to be filmed in succession.

FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN first,
followed by BLOOD FOR DRACULA.

Warhol left a real impression on
me. He was the guru of pop art.

Every time we held a
production meeting,

he wandered around the room snapping
pictures of everyone with his Polaroid.

I bet he had a few
pictures of me as well.

Who knows what they look
like. I really wonder that.

At the same time he also
recorded everything on tape,

probably to ponder
over it later.

He was such a
peculiar character.

We met so many times but I
believe I never heard him speak.

My relationship with Morrissey was
quite the opposite, obviously.

We often had some technical
issues to solve together.

We even played the
score together a bit.

And of course we talked a lot about the
flow of the score, the timbres and such.

A very technical collaboration
between director and composer.

We really got along well,

especially since he liked the music I had
originally written for Polanskis WHAT?

He really fancied my gloomy,
romantic personal touch.

I was fresh out of school,

and every time he told me about
those two quasi-comedy films,

both so elegantly refined when
it came to visuals and costumes,

we both believed
my score would be

a good parallel to the more
light-hearted mood of the films.

Take BLOOD FOR DRACULA's
main theme, for instance,

which plays over the
opening credits.

It plays as we see a pensive Udo Kier,
the actor portraying an aging Dracula,

standing in front of a mirror as he
dyes his hair and puts on some lipstick.

My theme was rather simple
but quite effective

in its melancholy
and sadness.

As I said, we thought it made a
great parallel with the tone of the movie.

Of course, the score also
offers some more technical,

thrilling, or even
pastoral pieces,

all suited and selected for the
tone of the various scenes.

We stuck to the initial idea of having
a gloomy score with classical echoes.

As far as I know, Antonio Margheriti
mostly handled special effects.

Dealing with technical things
Morrissey didn't know much about,

whereas the director would focus
on the elegance of the shots.

Margheriti was already
an industry veteran,

and his special effects were
simple yet effective.

Morrissey made good use
of his experience.

The film was Morrissey's, but we owe the
effects and some visuals to Margheriti.

We had a brainstorm
for the old song

when we found out we could
use an old gramophone,

so we came up with
a 1920s-style song.

I'm very satisfied with
the melody I wrote.

During mixing we even "aged" the audio by
adding scratches, noises, and other flaws,

all in order to replicate the
sound of an old gramophone.

The final result was flawless. It gave
the scene this whole old-style feeling,

which of course was
perfect for the film.

This is Polanski's cameo
during the tavern scene.

It's a cute scene with Polanski as a
crafty guy playing a game with another man.

The film is set in Italy, so I thought an
Italian tune would fit perfectly.

For those who haven't
seen the film,

Dracula has left Romania to
find new blood in Italy.

So we're already in Italy
during this tavern scene,

and I wanted to underline the setting with
a very Italian, old-style accordion sound.

It creates a very, let's
say, rustic feeling.

The perfect mood for a scene
set in a small village tavern.

The film is not only set in the villa
owned by Vittorio De Sica's character,

but also in this tavern and
the surrounding countryside.

I love this aspect of the film.

Both films fared
acceptably well here,

although I certainly can't say
they were commercial hits.

However, moviegoers liked them,
especially the many genre aficionados.

There are a lot of
horror fans around,

and I still get emails from fans asking
questions about the films to this very day.

I mean, we're talking about two films
that are more than three decades old.

After starting my career with the
likes of Visconti and Polanski,

my perception of cinema was
that of a big fairy land.

I felt I had found myself in a land of
geniuses and incredibly talented people.

It was more than learning the trade. I
felt I was in an oasis of pure creativity.

I then discovered that the film industry
wasn't limited to that paradise.

There were many other genres,
directors, actors, composers.

Alas, I felt I had
started at the top.

I was on the highest cloud.

As I already said, my involvement with
cinema began as a chain of events

which I believed
would never end.

It wasn't the case,
unfortunately.

The chain broke for many different reasons,
and because of many different people.

Visconti died before we had the
chance to work together again,

and then Polanski left Italy.

Even Ponti, who had produced some
of these films, left the country.

The chain suddenly broke and I found
myself stumbling in the dark.

It felt like I'd been booted out of that
paradise I was telling you about.

Besides, it's not easy working
as a film composer in Italy.

You need to be both talented
and skilled at networking.

My career stalled somewhat and I didn't
get back on track as I should have.

That's when I started working
in the easy-listening field,

becoming an executive
for EMI Music.

We've scored a lot of hits
on the Italian music scene,

especially with younger
talents like Pino Daniele.

He was quite a big name here, and he began
to gain notoriety back in the early 1980s.

I also started experimenting
with instrumental music,

managing to fare quite well internationally
under different pseudonyms.

Even that music bears my, let's say,
signature gloomy, romantic touch.

A rather romantic sound.

Automat was another
EMI production.

It became a smashing success because
it was really ahead of its time.

We were two musicians, and it's
an instrumental electronic album.

Every track was made using a
single monophonic synthesizer.

To record it today like we did
back then would be totally insane.

Imagine recording a whole album
using a monophonic synthesizer.

It was long, strenuous work,
assembling every track bit by bit.

Basically, the album served to showcase
the capabilities of then-new tech.

It became an international
hit about 25 years ago,

especially in countries
like Brazil.

Despite being considered quite ahead of
its time, it remained a one-shot project.

After that I kept working
in the easy-listening field.

Very simple, catchy tunes,
that sort of thing.

Then, as a sort of throwback to
my classical music interest,

I've also produced some pieces
done in that very style.

Quite sophisticated sounds,

and obviously suited
for many documentaries.

I was essentially asked to
compose and orchestrate

something in the vein of
the great classical composers.

It was also a throwback to
my WHAT? score, of course.

To my beginnings.