588 Godfather, The (1972)
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This article is from the Movie Trivia, by Murray Chapman muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au with numerous contributions by others.
588 Godfather, The (1972)
- 'Warren Beatty' (qv), 'Jack Nicholson' (qv), and 'Dustin Hoffman' (qv) were
all offered the part of Michael Corleone, but all refused.
'Robert Redford' (qv) was also considered.
- 'Robert De Niro' (qv) read for the parts of both Sonny and Michael Corleone.
Director 'Francis Coppola' (qv) decided that he wasn't right for the role of
Sonny, and already had Pacino in mind for Michael.
- There is a rumor that 'Burt Reynolds' (qv) was originally cast as Michael
Corleone but 'Marlon Brando' (qv) wouldn't act with him, considering him
more a TV star.
- 'Lawrence Olivier' (qv) was considered for the role of Vito Corleone.
- 'Frank Sinatra' (qv) was considered for the role of Johnny, but this role
went to 'Al Martino' (qv) when it became apparent that there were too many
similarities between Johnny and Sinatra himself.
- Brando wanted to make Don Corleone look ``like a bulldog'', so he stuffed
his cheeks with cotton wool for the screen test. For actual filming, he
wore an appliance made by a dentist. 'Al Pacino' (qv) also wore a dental
appliance. This was to hold his jaw out of alignment, to appear as though it
had been broken by Captain McCluskey and not reset. Brando's mouthpiece is
on display at the prop and costume museum at Universal Studios.
- During rehersals, a false horse's head was used for the bedroom scene. For
the actual shot, a real horse's head was used.
- During the scene where Sonny ('James Caan' (qv)) beats up Carlo
('Gianni Russo' (qv)), Caan actually broke some of Russo's ribs.
- Author 'Mario Puzo' (qv) and director Coppola deliberately removed all
instances of the word ``Mafia'' from their screenplay.
- The scene of Don Corleone's death in the tomato garden was ad-libbed.
- 'Sofia Coppola' (qv) (daughter of director) appears as Michael Corleone's
baby daughter in the christening scenes.
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