SERGIO LEONE – ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, A copy of a period typescript

Four hundred and 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, which the screenwriter kept until 2006 before giving it to Alan Simon, ends precisely on page 420. Sergio Leone had entrusted Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, who were then still at the start of their careers, with developing the story for his new western. This lengthy process resulted in a treatment which 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, packed with descriptions, visual cues and even details of the characters’ inner states. According to Donati, the text was detailed enough for Ennio Morricone to work on the music before filming began, which Leone then used on set. In another interview, Donati recalled having written the entire screenplay in a matter of weeks and emphasised how faithful Leone had remained to the text: in his view, the screenplay was almost a verbatim transcript of the film to come. This copy offers a remarkable tangible record of that story. The first page bears the title ‘C’ERA UNA VOLTA IL WEST’, followed by the typewritten credits for the subject, Sergio Leone, Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci, then the screenplay credits, Sergio Donati and Sergio Leone. The 420 pages organise the narrative into sequences and numbered shots. The final page leads up to the closing 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 preserved with the collection documents this meeting. Alan Simon reports that Donati, knowing of his passion for *Once Upon a Time in the West*, left the room before returning with this typescript and handing it to him after signing it. The title page still bears this dedication in blue felt-tip pen: ‘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 regarded as a seminal work of the modern Western. Starring Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards, with cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli and music by Ennio Morricone, the film brings a certain mythology of the Western to a close whilst simultaneously reinventing it. In 2009, the Library of Congress included it in 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 constructed the work. Typescript in Italian, 420 pages. Typewritten, spiral-bound. Dedicated and signed in blue felt-tip pen by Sergio Donati to Alan Simon. The spiral binding has recently been 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 part of the proceeds from this sale towards the construction of an earthquake-resistant school in Nepal. This project continues his commitment to the country, to which he had dedicated a charity concert held on 24 May 2015 at the Cité des congrès in Nantes.

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