The character of Hollywood mogul Jack Woltz's was patterned after Warner Brothers chief Jack L. Warner. His personality was based on MGM head Louis B.Mayer, who was a great racing aficionado, and owned a racing stable.
Who was Johnny Fontane supposed to be in The Godfather?
The novel also includes many allusions to real-life mobsters and their associates. For example, Johnny Fontane is based on Frank Sinatra, and Moe Greene on Bugsy Siegel. In addition, the character of Vito Corleone was a composite of real-life organized crime bosses Frank Costello and Carlo Gambino.
Woltz International Pictures is a film studio set up and owned by Jackson Woltz in Hollywood since the late 1970's, but only went to it's peak in 2000's after some successes in the 80's and 90's.
Many think Jack Waltz was based on Harry Cohn. Cohn was founder of Columbia Pictures. Another tie in was he had cast Frank Sinatra in The hit movie “From Here To Eternity”.
Coppola has said that Vincent is an amalgamation of the five Corleone family males, having his grandfather Vito's cunning, his father Sonny's fiery temper, his uncle Michael's ruthlessness, his uncle Fredo's sensitivity, and his uncle Tom Hagen's unquestioned loyalty.
Vito Corleone is based on a composite of mid-20th-century New York Mafia figures Carlo Gambino, Frank Costello, Joe Bonanno, and Joe Profaci. Mario told me that all of the great dialogue, those quotable lines he put into the mouth of Don Corleone, were actually spoken by Mario's mother.
Both Greene's character and personality are based on Bugsy Siegel: his affiliation with the mob in Los Angeles, his involvement in the development of Las Vegas, and his flamboyant tendencies.
The character of Hollywood mogul Jack Woltz's was patterned after Warner Brothers chief Jack L. Warner. His personality was based on MGM head Louis B. Mayer, who was a great racing aficionado, and owned a racing stable.
In the gruesome scene of Woltz finding his prized horse's severed head at the foot of his bed, for instance, we open with multiple cross dissolves over exterior shots of his home, sprinkled with the sound of morning crickets. This establishes an idyllic morning before the horror.
Why did Jack Woltz refuse to give Johnny Fontane a role in his film?
Dealings with the Corleones
In 1945, Woltz had bought the rights to film a war movie from a best selling novel. Woltz refuses to cast the singer/actor Johnny Fontane in his movie due to his jealousy over Fontane's role in the break up of one of Woltz's previous relationships.
Sonny may be based on Bill Bonanno who was been groomed by his father Joe Bonanno to be Boss of the Bonanno family and when his father disappeared he led the family in a war against rival mobsters. According to James Caan, the character of Sonny was partially inspired by late comedian Don Rickles.
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.
Who turned down the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather?
The primary reason why Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather was that the presently retired Nicholson, who identified himself as being Irish throughout his career, felt that the role of the Italian-American Michael should be played by an Italian actor.
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 did the singing for Johnny Fontane in The Godfather?
Apart from singing, Martino played the role of Johnny Fontane in the 1972 film The Godfather, as well as singing the film's theme, "Speak Softly Love". Martino had been told about the character by a friend who had read the eponymous novel and felt Martino represented the character of Johnny Fontane.
After a legal battle, they settled and Dorsey let Sinatra go. Not long after, rumors that Sinatra's mobster godfather, Willie Moretti, who helped Sinatra book his first shows in New Jersey before joining Dorsey, coerced the band leader to let Sinatra out of his contract holding a gun to his head.
Roth is a Jewish mobster and investor, and a business partner of Vito Corleone and later his son Michael Corleone. He is based on notorious mobster and gambling kingpin Meyer Lansky. It was Al Pacino who suggested Lee Strasberg, his former acting teacher, for the role.
Carlo Gambino influenced Vito Corleone's backstory, including the manner of the character's death. The most notable mobster to influence Don Coreleone's story was Frank Costello, who disliked violence as much as The Godfather's patriarch.
Michael Corleone is loosely based on Joseph Bonanno and Vito Genovese. Bonanno became a boss of his own family at a very young age and he relocated some of his businesses to Arizona in the 1960s. Genovese had fled to Sicily in the 1930s due to murder charges and ordered the deaths of rival bosses in the 1950s.
Fanucci is primarily based on Ignazio Lupo, a real-life Black Hand practitioner and member of the Morello crime family; his boss Maranzalla is likely a reference to Giuseppe Morello, a prominent figure in the early days of the New York Mafia.
Emilio Barzini is based on several real-life mobsters. His desire to take complete control of the New York Mafia is inspired by Vito Genovese, who made a similar attempt in the 1950s that ended with the disastrous Apalachin meeting.
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.
