Damone eventually declined the role because of a salary dispute and also because he did not want to provoke the mob or anger Frank Sinatra, whom Damone profoundly respected. Ultimately, the part of Johnny Fontane was given to Martino.
Who was originally supposed to play Johnny Fontane?
The popular singer was originally cast as the Sinatra-esque Johnny Fontane. He dropped out, attributing his pride in being Italian, though he would later state that it was all about the money. The Fontane role is much, much bigger in Mario Puzo's source material.
Why did Jack Woltz refuse to give Johnny Fontane a role in his film?
In 1945, he was about to release a war film from a best-selling novel, that Vito Corleone's godson Johnny Fontane wanted to star in. Woltz refused to cast Johnny, whom he hated for stealing his prized starlet away from him.
At a chance encounter in 1972, Sinatra refused to look author Mario Puzo in the eyes or shake his hand, and derisively called him a “pimp” specifically for concocting the Fontane character in the novel.
Other names floating around to play the Godfather ranged from Charles Bronson to Burt Lancaster to Orson Welles, who tried to convince Mario Puzo he was perfect for the role.
Jack Nicholson - Micheal Corleone, The Godfather (1972)
Paramount was set on a star like Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, or Jack Nicholson, with Nicholson even getting an offer for the part. However, Nicholson turned down the role.
"The studio didn't want Al Pacino at all," Keaton said, noting that she was cast before him in the Francis Ford Coppola classic. She then explained what caused the studio to change their opinion: their chemistry read.
Luca Brasi is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather, as well as its 1972 film adaptation. In the film, he was portrayed by Lenny Montana, an ex-wrestler and former bodyguard and enforcer for the Colombo crime family.
A staunch civil-rights advocate who refused to entertain in venues that discriminated against African Americans and Jews, Martin was fiercely proud of his Italian heritage. Indeed, he abhorred “The Godfather”: “I hated that movie, what it did to the Italian people. There was no call for that.”
Regardless of Frank Sinatra's protests and attempts to block its production, as dramatized in The Offer, there was nothing he could really do to prevent The Godfather movies from being made.
Why didn t the studio want Marlon Brando to play The Godfather?
But Paramount Pictures firmly opposed hiring Brando. With his reputation for being difficult, Brando might delay production, and in the late 1960s, following a run of failures, he seemed more like box-office poison than the cultural icon he would later become.
Did James Caan really hit the guy in The Godfather?
Caan denied fighting Russo for real.
In a March 2022 story on the 50th anniversary of The Godfather by The Hollywood Reporter, Caan addressed Russo's claim that he actually beat him up. "He had a fight with someone else. Not me," Caan said. "I did the fight scene with stuntman Paul Baxley.
Who was Paramount's first choice to play Michael in The Godfather?
When Francis Ford Coppola and Paramount Pictures set out to cast the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, they had a disagreement. The studio wanted Robert Redford, Warren Beatty or Ryan O'Neal.
Was Johnny Fontane in The Godfather supposed to be Frank Sinatra?
Puzo maintained the character of Johnny Fontane wasn't based on Sinatra, even though he admits in his book The Godfather Papers that he wouldn't show the working manuscripts to the famed singer's lawyers while it was being written.
Who was originally supposed to play Mary Corleone?
Sofia Coppola, the daughter of director Francis Ford Coppola, was cast in the role of Mary Corleone after several choices dropped out: Winona Ryder discontinued her involvement with the film due to nervous exhaustion, Julia Roberts due to scheduling conflicts, and Madonna was deemed too old for the part by some.
The distaste that the star had for the novel's alleged commentary on the star became so severe that Sinatra and The Godfather author and screenwriter even had a public confrontation at a restaurant, taking place while development on the feature film adaptation was beginning.
Matteo Messina Denaro, the “last godfather” of the Sicilian mafia who was accused of orchestrating some of the most heinous crimes perpetrated by the Cosa Nostra, has died after a long illness.
Vito Corleone is based on a composite of mid-20th-century New York Mafia figures Carlo Gambino, Frank Costello, Joe Bonanno, and Joe Profaci. The character's story begins as Vito Andolini in Corleone, Sicily, in the Kingdom of Italy.
Peter Clemenza is a fictional character who first appeared in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather. He is played by Academy Award-nominee Richard Castellano in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film adaptation of the novel, and by Bruno Kirby (as a young man) in The Godfather Part II (1974).
Don Corleone was inspired by real-life mob boss Frank Costello. Don Vito Corleone has similarities to several real-life mobsters, including Joe Profaci, who used his olive oil distributorship as a front for his illegal activities, and Carlo Gambino, who used a quiet, non-flashy style en route to power.
Behind the scenes. Peter Clemenza could be based on Frank Labruzzo, who was one of the most loyal capos of Joseph Bonanno, staying on his side during the "Bananas war" in the 1960s.
The “Annie Hall” actress asked director Francis Ford Coppola via Instagram Stories, “Why on Earth did you choose me for 'The Godfather'?!” Coppola replied, “I chose you, because although you were to play the more straight/vanilla wife, there was something about you, deeper, funnier, and very interesting.
In 2017, Keaton told People she "had a crush" on Pacino when they began shooting the movie. Once they got together, she said, "I was mad for him. Charming, hilarious, a nonstop talker. There was an aspect of him that was like a lost orphan, like this kind of crazy idiot savant.
De Niro had previously auditioned for the first installment, The Godfather (1972), but quit the project in favor of doing The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Coppola, having remembered him, gave De Niro a role in Part II instead.
