Amadeus

OSCAR WINNER - 1984
• Best Picture
• Best Director - Milos Foreman
• Best Actor - F Murray Abraham
• Best Adapted Screenplay
• Best Costume Design
• Best Makeup
• Best Production Design
• Best Sound

AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE:
• 100 Years... 100 Movies (1998): #53

Winner of eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, AMADEUS is the long-awaited film adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s London and Broadway stage hit centered around the genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s life and music.

Directed by Milos Forman and produced by Saul Zaentz, the team that swept the 1976 Academy Awards with ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, AMADEUS was adapted for the screen by its author Peter Shaffer. In the leading roles, F Murray Abraham (Academy Award - Best Actor) is the jealous-ridden 18th century composer, Antonio Salieri; Tom Hulce plays Mozart, the hapless victim of Salieri’s merciless venom. The incredible music of Mozart is heard throughout the film.

This extravagant production is one that reaches out to everyone. Already regarded as a film classic, AMADEUS will win the hearts of all its awe-inspired audiences.


TRIVIA:

• When shooting the scene in which Salieri is writing down the death mass under Mozart’s dictation, Tom Hulce was deliberately skipping lines to confuse F Murray Abraham, in order to achieve the impression that Salieri wasn’t able to fully understand the music being dictated.

• Only four sets needed to be built: Salieri’s hospital room, Mozart’s apartment, a staircase and the vaudeville theatre. All other locations were found locally.

• F Murray Abraham learned to read and conduct music for this role.

• The performance of DON GIOVANNI in the film was shot on the same stage where the opera had its world premiere.

• The young boy that Mozart smiles at in the masquerade ball scene as he plays the piano is supposed to be the young Beethoven.

• Milos Forman insisted that his lead actors retain their American accents in order to concentrate on their characters and performances instead.

• Tom Hulce said he based Mozart’s distinctive, obnoxious laugh on a very famous director he worked with, who worked with in an identical manner. As of 2018, he has still refused to name the director.

• Entire film was shot with natural light. In order to get the proper diffusion of light for some scenes, the DPs covered windows from the outside with tracing paper.

• The portrait of Leopold Mozart seen in the film, while made to look like Roy Dotrice, is based on and has a very close resemblance to a real portrait of Mozart’s father. The original is in the care of the Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg.

• The music was pre-recorded and played in the background as scenes were filmed. Tom Hulce practiced four hours a day to appear convincing.

• The film ironically helped spark a revival of Salieri’s music, which had previously languished in obscurity.

• Elizabeth Berridge, during the Nipples of Venus scene, did not know she could spit out the candy (which was really lumps of marzipan) between takes and ate about 15 whole pieces. She later described how she thought that they were disgustingly sweet and she eventually made herself sick.

• One of only four productions to win both the Tony Award for Best Play and the Best Picture Oscar. The other three are MY FAIR LADY, THE SOUND OF MUSIC (both of which won the Best Musical Tony Award) and A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS.

• Tom Hulce is actually playing the piano on his back during the masquerade ball sequence.

• AMADEUS opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theater on December 17, 1980. The play was directed by Peter Hall and written by Peter Shaffer. The cast was lead by Sir Ian McKellan as Salieri, Tim Curry as Mozart and Jane Seymour as Constanze. During the highly successful run of the play, replacements in the cast included David Dukes, Frank Langella and John Wood in the role of Salieri, Mark Hamill as Mozart, Amy Irving as Constanze and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Katherina Cavalieri. The play received seven 1981 Tony Awards and received five including Best Play, Best Direction of a Play (Peter Hall) and Best Actor (McKellen). The play ran for a highly successful 1181 performances before closing on October 16, 1983.

• The DON GIOVANNI sequence was filmed in part on the Fourth of July. During one take, when Milos Forman’s call of “Action,” a large American flag unfurled from the ceiling. 500 extras stood up from their seats and began to sing “The Star Spangled Banner”.

• Tom Hulce and F Murray Abraham had a deliberately distant working relationship during the making of the film, much like their characters did.

• Mel Gibson, Mick Jagger, Sam Waterston and Tim Curry (who had portrayed Mozart in the original play on Broadway) all auditioned for the role of Mozart.

• Originally, a very young Kenneth Branagh (at age 23) was cast as Mozart, but Milos Forman changed his mind and decided to go with American actors for the principal roles.

• The latest film (as of 2018) to receive two Best Actor nominations.

• Meg Tilly originally was cast as Stanze but tore a leg ligament in a street soccer game the day before she was to film her first scene. Elizabeth Berridge, Rebecca De Mornay and Diane Franklin were all screen tested as replacements, with Berridge winning the role.

• This film is one of eleven films to receive two or more Oscar nominations for Best Actor. The list of films are as follows:

- MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY
(Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone)
- GOING MY WAY
(Bing Crosby (winner), Barry Fitzgerald)
- FROM HERE TO ETERNITY
(Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster)
- GIANT
(James Dean, Rock Hudson)
- THE DEFIANT ONES
(Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier)
- JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG
(Maximillian Schell (winner), Spencer Tracy)
- BECKET
(Richard Burton, Peter O’Toole)
- SLEUTH
(Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier)
- NETWORK
(Peter Finch (winner - posthumous), William Holden)
- THE DRESSER
(Tom Courtney, Albert Finney)
- AMADEUS
(F Murray Abraham (winner), Tom Hulce)

• David Bowie and Mikhail Baryshnikov were both considered for the role of Mozart.

• As of 2018, this film is still one of only two films to have won both Best Picture and Best Actor with two Best Actor nominations. The other film is GOING MY WAY.

• The first Best Picture Oscar winner to also win the Best Makeup and Hairstyling Award.

1984

PG

883929064762

311

Movie

Best Of Warner Bros. 50 Film Collection

89

8.4

2018-02-07 21:28:18

2.35:1

180

United States

1984-09-19

1080p

2.35:1

50 GB (Blu)

2

A

Digibook

~$46.75

2025-12-06

2018-02-07 21:28:18