104 - SERGIO LEONE – ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST

SERGIO LEONE – ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST A vintage typewritten copy, in Italian, of the extended version of the screenplay for *Once Upon a Time in the West*, comprising 420 pages and numerous scenes not included in the theatrical release of the film. A copy signed and inscribed by Sergio Donati to Alan Simon in 2006. Four hundred twenty pages: that is the figure Sergio Donati himself gave for the screenplay of *Once Upon a Time in the West*. The typescript presented here, kept by the screenwriter until 2006 before being given to Alan Simon, ends precisely on page 420. Sergio Leone had entrusted Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento—who were still early in their careers at the time—with developing the story for his new Western. From this lengthy process emerged a treatment that Sergio Donati then transformed into a screenplay together with Leone. The film’s credits thus list the story by Leone, Bertolucci, and Argento, and the screenplay by Sergio Donati and Sergio Leone. Donati would later describe the unique nature of this writing process. Leone had asked him for a screenplay conceived almost like a novel: 420 pages, filled with descriptions, visual cues, and even details of the characters’ inner states. According to Donati, the text was detailed enough for Ennio Morricone to begin working on the score before filming began, and Leone subsequently used that music on set. In another interview, Donati recalled having written the entire screenplay in just a few weeks and emphasized how faithful Leone had remained to the text: in his view, the screenplay was almost a verbatim transcription of the film to come. This copy offers a remarkable tangible representation of that story. The first page bears the title “C’ERA UNA VOLTA IL WEST,” followed by typewritten notes on the subject, Sergio Leone, Dario Argento, and Bernardo Bertolucci, and then on the screenplay by Sergio Donati and Sergio Leone. The 420 pages organize the narrative into sequences and numbered shots. The last page leads up to the final image: rather than the traditional “THE END,” the film’s title appears on screen: C’ERA UNA VOLTA IL WEST. The provenance is directly linked to Sergio Donati. In the spring of 2006, Alan Simon spent several days working with him in Mentana, near Rome, on the screenplay for a film project. A photograph included with the collection documents this meeting. Alan Simon recounts that Donati, knowing of his passion for *Once Upon a Time in the West*, left the room and returned with this typescript, handing it to him after signing it. The title page still bears this dedication in blue marker: “To my friend Alan,” followed by Sergio Donati’s signature. The document has since remained in Alan Simon’s personal collection. Once Upon a Time in the West is now considered a seminal work of the modern Western. Featuring Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, and Jason Robards, with cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli and music by Ennio Morricone, the film both brings to a close a certain mythology of the Western while simultaneously reinventing it. In 2009, the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry to ensure its preservation as a work of cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance. This typescript thus touches on the very fabric of the film: not its distribution or promotion, but the text from which Leone, Donati, Morricone, and their collaborators built the work. Typescript in Italian, 420 pages. Typewritten, spiral-bound. Dedicated and signed in blue marker by Sergio Donati to Alan Simon. The spiral binding was recently replaced by the owner, as the original binding had become fragile. Accompanied by a photograph of Alan Simon and Sergio Donati taken in Mentana in 2006. Alan Simon wishes to donate a portion of the proceeds from this sale toward the construction of an earthquake-resistant school in Nepal. This project continues his commitment to the country, to which he had dedicated a benefit concert held on May 24, 2015, at the Cité des Congrès in Nantes.