According to Peter Cowie's 1997 publication The Godfather Book, Paramount initially targeted Warren Beatty and Robert Redford to star as Michael Corleone.
Who was originally supposed to play Michael Corleone?
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. Coppola wanted an unknown Italian American actor.
Potential candidates for Michael included the era's most bankable stars, including Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Ryan O'Neal and Jack Nicholson. "Martin Sheen was considered," Seal says.
"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.
Who was supposed to play Michael Corleone's daughter?
During his conversation with the Times, Francis noted how the casting of his daughter came to be, when Winona Ryder – who was originally cast to play Mary — dropped out after she got sick once in Rome to film the final installment.
The HIDDEN Secret Behind the Meeting with Moe Greene...
Who was Don Corleone's Favourite child?
Even people who aren't familiar with the film can recognise Marlon Brando's weary, wheezy Mafia boss, Vito Corleone, and his favourite son Michael, played by Al Pacino.
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.
Why didn't they want Marlon Brando in 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.
But despite being director Francis For Coppola's first choice to play Michael Corleone, there was a time, while shooting The Godfather, where Pacino almost got fired.
Why was Marlon Brando not wanted for The Godfather?
Paramount initially didn't want Marlon Brando in The Godfather due to his reputation for being difficult on set and recent box office flops, but Francis Ford Coppola fought for him.
At the Long Beach Causeway toll plaza, Barzini's men trap Sonny and shoot him to death. During a meeting with the other crime family dons to establish peace, Vito realizes that Barzini masterminded Sonny's murder. After Michael returns from Sicily, he assumes Sonny's place as Vito's heir apparent.
Tall and solidly built, this Italian-American professional wrestler turned actor was born Lenny Passaforo in Brooklyn, New York, and is best remembered for his first on-screen role as the not too bright but ever loyal bodyguard Luca Brasi in.
According to studio executive Robert Evans in his 1994 memoir The Kid Stays in the Picture, Caridi was director Francis Ford Coppola's first choice for the role of Sonny Corleone, but Evans insisted on James Caan because Caridi was too tall to play opposite Al Pacino.
Was Robert De Niro supposed to be Michael Corleone?
Robert De Niro Could Have Played Michael Corleone, the Role Al Pacino Made Iconic in The Godfather. Sean Levy writes in the excellent biography De Niro: A Life that Francis Ford Coppola considered “a number of names for every key role” in 1972's The Godfather – including De Niro and Pacino.
Initially, the film was offered to Bill Murray, John Travolta, and Chevy Chase. All three of them turned down the role and eventually, our true Gump came on the board. And the rest is history!
Did Frank Sinatra want to stop The Godfather movie?
The crooner publicly denied his connections to the Mafia to protect his public image, yet Sinatra did have social ties to organized crime, and The Offer depicts him leaning on Joe Columbo to put a stop to The Godfather movie's production.
Pacino wasn't a movie star in 1972, he was actually a well-respected theatre actor who had only accrued a small number of film roles by the time he hit 30. Francis Ford Coppola took notice of Pacino for his role in the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park and cast him in The Godfather.
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.
A distinguished character actor, Richard S. Castellano was the highest earning actor in The Godfather, whose fame outside the saga included playing Joe Girelli in The Super. He also received an Academy Award nomination for his role in Love and Other Strangers.
What word was intentionally omitted from the film The Godfather?
A civil-rights league ensured the words "mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" were excluded from the film. With concern that the film would portray harmful Italian stereotypes, the Italian-American Civil Rights League held a rally in 1970 to protest and halt the production.
He saw the way America historically treated Native Americans as part of the "same deep, corrosive racism that refused to extend civil rights to African Americans," and he felt far more invested in dealing with those kinds of ongoing issues than with whether he should accept an Oscar.
Hagen was originally intended to have been featured in The Godfather Part III, but was written out due to a salary dispute between Duvall and the film's producers. Coppola stated in the film's commentary that Duvall demanded the same salary as Al Pacino (who portrayed Michael Corleone).
Fans of the series ignore the third film for a reason, and each person has their own. However, the film as a whole felt like it did not fit with the rest of the series. Not only was it set in a significantly later time period, but it also didn't have the same energy as the first two.
Sylvester Stallone Was Rejected Even as Background Talent in The Godfather. Perhaps, the makers were too much selective even while picking up background artists. Of course, it would be fair to assume that is one of the traits of Coppola's filmmaking. But the rejection was a hard hit on Stallone.
