The Godfather
Here
are some interesting facts about The Godfather movie:
1-FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA WAS AT
RISK OF BEING FIRED DURING PRODUCTION:
Francis Ford Coppola (who got the job because of his previous movie, The
Rain People) wasn’t the first director Paramount Pictures had in mind for The
Godfather. Elia Kazan, Arthur Penn, Richard Brooks, and Costa-Gavras all turned
the job down. And after filming began, executives didn’t like the brooding,
talky drama that Coppola was shooting.
The studio wanted a more salacious gangster movie, so it constantly
threatened to fire Coppola (even going so far as to have stand-in directors
waiting on set). Coppola was reportedly getting the ax until he shot the
scene where Michael kills Sollozzo and
McCluskey, which the executives saw
and loved
2- COPPOLA FOUGHT TO KEEP THE FAMOUS LOGO:
The studio originally wanted to scrap the now-iconic “puppet strings”
logo (which was first created by graphic designer S. Neil Fujita for the
novel’s release) with Puzo’s name above the title for the movie release, but
Coppola insisted on keeping it because
Puzo co-wrote the script with him.
3-HE ALSO FOUGHT TO KEEP THE
STORY AS A PERIOD DRAMA:
As a cost-cutting measure, Paramount asked Coppola to modernize the
script so the action took place in 1972 and to shoot the movie in Kansas City
as a stand-in for the more expensive New York City. Coppola convinced them to
keep the story in a post-World War II New York setting to maintain the
integrity of the film.
4-PARAMOUNT DIDN’T WANT MARLON BRANDO FOR THE ROLE:
When Coppola initially mentioned Brando as a possibility for Vito
Corleone, the head of Paramount, Charles Bluhdorn, told Coppola the actor would
"never appear in a Paramount picture".
The studio pushed the director to cast Laurence Olivier as Vito, before
eventually agreeing to pursue Brando under three stringent conditions: 1)
Brando had to do a screen test; 2) if cast, Brando would have to do the movie
for free; and 3) Brando would have to personally put up a bond to make up for
potential losses caused by his infamously bad on-set behavior.
Coppola
surreptitiously lured the famously cagey Brando into what he called “makeup
test” which in reality was the screen test the studio demanded. When Coppola showed the studio the test they liked it so much they dropped the second and
third
stipulations and agreed to let Brando be in the movie.
6-PACINO WASN’T THE FIRST CHOICE TO PLAY MICHAEL, EITHER:
The studio wanted Robert Redford or Ryan O’Neal to play Michael
Corleone, but Coppola always wanted Al Pacino. Other actors, like Martin Sheen
and James Caan (who would go on to play Sonny), screen tested for Michael. Likewise,
Al Pacino’s role as Michael Corleone was in jeopardy for a good chunk of
production. The studio believe Pacino was far too restrained for the character.
Only after the famous restaurant scene was filmed did Pacino’s position become
secure.
Robert De
Niro auditioned for the role of Sonny, but Coppola thought his personality was
too violent for the role. De Niro would later appear as the young Vito Corleone
in The Godfather: Part II, and win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work.
8-COPPOLA LET
THE WEDDING PLAY OUT AND SHOT IT GUERILLA-STYLE:
To add a
sense of reality to the wedding scene (and because he only had two days to
shoot it), Coppola had the cast freely act out and improvise in the
background. He then shot specific vignettes amongst the action.
9- THE
GODFATHER’S CAT WAS A STRAY:
During his
daily walks to the set, Coppola would often see a stray cat, and on the day of
shooting the scenes in Vito’s study, Coppola took the cat and told Brando to
improvise with it. The cat loved Brando so much that it sat in his lap during
takes for
the whole day.
10- PACINO
WAS THE ARCHETYPICAL METHOD ACTOR:
He really had
his jaw wired shut for the first part of the shoot after his character is punched in the face.
11- THE INFAMOUS HORSE’S HEAD WAS REAL:
The horse
head in the movie producer’s bed wasn’t a prop. The production got a real
horse’s head from a local dog food company.
12- THE “TAKE
THE CANNOLI” LINE WAS IMPROVISED:
The line in
the script only had actor Richard Castellano as Clemenza say “Leave the gun”
after the hit on the mobster who ratted on the Corleones. He was inspired to
make the addition after Coppola inserted a line in which the character’s wife
asks him to buy cannoli for dessert.
References: http://mentalfloss.com/article/62427/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-godfather
https://www.phactual.com/15-fun-facts-about-the-godfather/
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