"Once Upon a Time in America" ​​Memories of 20th century America depicted through the lives of gangsters

``Another modern American history'' told through the eyes of real gangsters

Once Upon a Time in America was inspired by Harry Gray's semi-autobiographical novel The Hoods. A story about Jewish gangsters set in New York. For him, an Italian, depicting the "land of the free" had special meaning.

"America is so varied and exciting that when you come back six months later, it's completely different. What interests me most is that America is full of contradictions and is always changing. Even if you decide not to touch on that topic anymore, before you know it, you'll find yourself wanting to do it again.'' (quoted from an interview with Sergio Leone )

Sergio Leone was so inspired by this novel that he started working on the screenplay immediately after completing "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." In fact, Sergio Leone had met the original author Harry Gray several times. Apparently, the "Fat Moe's" that appears in the film is based on the bar where the two first met. Leone held numerous meetings and worked hard to recreate "another modern American history" as told through Harry Gray's eyes.

"Once Upon a Time in America" ​​(c)Photofest / Getty Images

However, it took almost 20 years for this work to be released into the world. One of the reasons was that movie companies were reluctant to make anything other than Western movies. As a man who has been called the father of macaroni westerns, it's only natural that he would want to film as much action as possible in the Wild West. While making Westerns that everyone around him wanted, he also sharpened his teeth for the gangster movies that would come his way someday.

Another issue is rights. The movie rights to ``The Hoods'' were held by Dan Curtis, known for directing the TV drama ``Dark Shadows,'' and he was reluctant to let go of them. So Leone comes up with a plan. He asked producer Alberto Grimaldi to invest in ``The House'' (1976), directed and produced by Dan Curtis. Negotiations were successful and they finally obtained the film rights.

Once Upon a Time in America... Once upon a time in America during the prohibition era. ``Another modern history of America,'' which Sergio Leone had been longing for, has finally reached the starting point of production.