Francis Ford Coppola made his name with “The Godfather” franchise, but he was far from the first choice of director for the project. Paramount Picture’s first choice of director was Sergio Leone, famous for his spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood. But Leone didn’t enjoy the novel and turned the project down.
Arthur Penn declined because he didn’t want to do a gangster film so soon after “Bonnie and Clyde”. Costa-Gavras liked the novel but thought he didn’t know enough about American culture. Elia Kaza, Peter Bogdanovich, Fred Zinnemann, Peter Yates, and even Richard Lester were considered, and then Coppola signed on.
Life Imitates Art
"The Godfather" brought a lot of panache to the world of organized crime. The movie turned crime families on their heads.
Thankfully for everybody involved with the film, real mobsters were flattered by the portrayals and ended up adopting lots of the practices shown in the movie, mostly thanks to Don Corleone, with the addition of old-fashioned mannerisms and foreign words. One real-life boss was even apprehended by investigators while playing the video game adaptation.
The Priciest Shot in the Movie
One of the most famous scenes from the first movie is Sonny's death, which takes place at a toll booth. It is one of the bloodiest, most violent scenes in the movie and was the most expensive one to shoot, but not for the reason you might think. The effects used in the movie were little more than blood squibs that popped thanks to an electronic cue, hidden under James Caan's clothing.
However, the toll booth that was destroyed was real, and the big expense for the shot was the production paying to rebuild the entire toll booth.
Enforced Acting
In "The Godfather Part II", the character Signor Roberto at one point has to struggle with a door while exiting a scene. It brings a laugh, and the brief moment of levity is a good way to break up the tension of the film.
The actor who played Roberto was a famous Italian improv comedian, so Coppola wanted to see how he would react to not being able to get through the door. This was done by having the actor playing Genco, who exited the scene before Roberto, force the door shut with a nail without Roberto's actor's knowledge.
Art Happens Under Constraints
When Coppola gave Pacino the script for "The Godfather Part II", Pacino handed it back and said he didn't like it, and wouldn't do the film unless he re-wrote it. What's a writer/director to do in this situation? Well, Coppola went home and spent the entire weekend re-writing the script.
As it turns out, Pacino didn't really dislike the original script all that much, but he did think it could be much better. A little bit of acting later and Coppola brings out one of the best scripts he's ever written.