Entitled Ennio: The Maestro, the docufilm is directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, a long-time collaborator of the Italian composer, who died in Rome aged 91 on July 6, 2020.
The pair worked together for over 25 years.
Morricone composed soundtracks for all of Tornatore’s movies since the Oscar-winning 1988 classic Cinema Paradiso, winning several awards for his music on The Legend of 1900.
The film is based on an 11-day interview with Morricone, featuring clips of films he set to music as well as his arrangements for pop songs.
The maestro sits onscreen for much of the film, alert behind his giant spectacles, telling stories about a career he’d intended to be entirely different — even after he gave up a boyhood ambition to be a doctor.
Numerous actors and directors feature in the film, sharing their memories of Morricone, including Bernardo Bertolucci, Marco Bellocchio, Carlo Verdone, Roland Joffé and Dario Argento.
Big names from the English-speaking world of cinema also make an appearance, including Clint Eastwood, Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone, as well as musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez and Gianni Morandi.
Morricone, who lived in Rome his entire life, wrote the soundtracks for over 500 films and television series, starting with the spaghetti westerns of his old childhood friend Sergio Leone, such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
He was nominated for an Oscar five times and in 2007 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his contribution to film music.
In 2016, he won an Oscar for best original score for his soundtrack to Tarantino’s movie The Hateful Eight.
Morricone’s death was followed by a flood of tributes to the celebrated composer.
“We will remember forever and with infinite gratitude the artistic genius of maestro Ennio Morricone,” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.
“He made us dream, he moved us and made us think, writing unforgettable notes that will remain forever in the history of music and cinema.”
Italian President Sergio Mattarella also honoured the musical genius.
“With his soundtracks he helped greatly to spread and strengthen Italy’s standing in the world,” Mattarella said.
Italian actress Monica Bellucci said of Morricone that “there are people who have the ability to make the world better because they know how to create beauty”, while Gilles Jacob, the former head of the Cannes film festival, described him as the “emperor” of film music.
Italy went on to celebrate Morricone with a special edition €5 coin, and Rome renamed the Auditorium Parco della Musica in honour of one of the city’s most famous sons.
