Francis Ford Coppola determined a singular word that embodied the theme of his movies, and that word would inform all directorial decisions from wardrobe to how to guide actors in a scene to whether a character should have a beard or not.
So “The Godfather” was about “succession.” “The Conversation” about “privacy.” “Apocalypse Now” about “morality.”
In September 2010, knowing the Mets were going to replace Omar Minaya, I fixated on the word that encompassed what was needed to direct Mets baseball operations.
For me, it was “gravitas.” The Wilpons were mired in the Madoff scandal.