🪡 🎥 The making of #TheGodfather — some facts, clips & the challenges of getting #MarlonBrando #AlPacino for their now critically acclaimed performances.
Paramount didn’t want #MarlonBrando. With Coppolas insistence, Brando finally landed the part after a number of screen tests and even an arrangement for Brando to personally post a bond to cover any potential costs incurred by any possible poor on-set behavior.
#Coppola handed #Brando tape recordings of a 1950 investigation into organised crime that featured real-life mobsters, including Joseph Valachi. Vito’s mumbled drawl was drawn from Valachi’s own speech. It was also Brandos idea to make Vito Corleones face look like a “bulldog”.
Furthermore #Coppola would use props to inspire #Brando instead of „talking about acting stuff“ something #Brando despised. When Corleone is stroking the cat in his office— the cat was never meant to be in the scene. Coppola decided to give him the stray after spotting it on set.
#Brando was known for using cue cards rather than memorizing his lines. He frequently said it helped him being spontaneous & would attach the cards on lamps, bushes & sometimes even other actors. According to #JohnnyDepp, Brando also used an earpiece on the set of The Brave.
Redford, O'Neal, Martin Sheen & Caan (Sonny) were among the actors who had to screentest for Michael. However, Al Pacino was always Coppola's first choice.
The studio just didn’t like the unknown actor at the time— #AlPacino because according to them he didn’t look like an “American superstar”.
From Marlon Brando, Al Pacino's casting to alleged frivolous & overbudget production costs, Coppola and the studio disagreed on almost every decision. Therefore, Coppola's persistent worry that he would be replaced during filming is not surprising.
When Sonny was machine-gunned to death, his assailants continued to shoot him even as he crawled out of the car and lay motionless on the ground. The special effects team equipped Caan's outfit with 147 bags of fake blood, each attached to a console that sounded like gunfire.
When the character Jack Woltz awakens to discover the severed head of his beloved horse lying on his bed. The horse's head wasn't a prop; it was purchased from a nearby dog
food manufacturer. Animal rights organizations tried to have the scene removed, but they were unsuccessful.
"Take the cannoli”. This line was improvised by Castellano, who played Clemenza. The official script only referenced, “Leave the gun,” but he added the cannoli line in reference to his character being asked to buy cannoli by his wife as he left the house that day.
The real Mafia shot at a parked automobile belonging to one of the producer's secretaries as part of their threatening steps against the movie. A number of agreements were eventually struck to reduce the tension.
Among them were attempts to avoid glorifying gangster culture, such as removing the word "mafia" from the script and casting many mafia members as extras.
According to several accounts, mafiosis turned out to be admirers of the film & frequently debated who should play Don Corleone in their actual organizations. A severed horse's head was also put in a car's trunk by Sicilian mobster gangsters in 1991 to scare away contractors.
Parts of the novel are based upon reality, notably the history of the "Five Families" in New York. Puzo claimed he knew very little about the mob before writing the book and based it mostly on research rather than real life experience. | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Fami…
The novel also includes many allusions to real-life mobsters & alleged 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, Carlo Gambino & some aspects also inspired by Mario Puzos own Mother.
“I never met a real honest-to-god-gangster,” he wrote in his 1972 autobiography “The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions.”—The result was a story that was more fantasy than fact.
On January 28, 1973, the film won multiple academy awards—Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actor – Drama (Brando), Best Original Score, & Best Picture – Drama.
The Godfather has received overwhelming critical acclaim & is seen as one of the greatest —most influential films of all time. Particularly for using actual mobsters as actors/extras, overall performance & it’s cinematography.
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