Imagine 'The Godfather' with a completely different cast? Could've happened
It's impossible today to imagine any other actor playing Don Vito Corleone. But Marlon Brando was seen as a washed-up, temperamental diva by Paramount Picture's suits.
"They wanted anybody but Brando," says Mark Seal, author of Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather. In fact, he says, studio executives were deeply opposed to the entire cast handpicked by director Francis Ford Coppola. "They wanted Ernest Borgnine or Carlo Ponti, the husband of Sophia Loren. Danny Thomas wanted to buy the project from Paramount and star in it himself."
Other names floating around to play the Godfather ranged from Charles Bronson to Burt Lancaster to Orson Welles, who tried to convince Mario Puzo he was perfect for the role. "The author of The Godfather had written a letter to Brando saying, 'You're the only actor who could play this role with the quiet intensity that it deserves or requires,'" Seal adds.
It's still fun to imagine Orson Welles, the auteur who directed Citizen Kane at the tender age of 25, vibing on The Godfather's set with Coppola, who was 29 when filming started. Coppola was dead set on directing Al Pacino and Diane Keaton in what would become their first major film roles, as well as the more established screen actors Robert Duvall and James Caan (who was originally considered by Paramount for Michael Corleone).
Over the course of his research, Seal found the studio's original casting list. 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. "Frank Langella. Nobody wanted Al Pacino, except for Coppola. Coppola said every time he thought about those scenes in Sicily, he saw the face of Al Pacino flash before his mind."
But back then, Pacino was primarily known as a New York theater actor. He was too obscure and at 5'6", the studio thought, too short – shorter than Diane Keaton, who ended up playing his love interest, Kay. (Paramount worried she was too offbeat, and pushed Karen Black, Tuesday Weld, Blythe Danner and Michelle Phillips instead.)
"This was the hottest movie of its day, even though Paramount at the beginning didn't know — and nobody expected it to be — this touchstone," Seal explains. "But at the same time, so many people wanted to play all these roles because Mario Puzo's novel was racing up the bestseller list."
In some ways, Seal adds, that novel was the real star. But that did not stop Paramount from spending around $400,000 on screen tests in New York and Los Angeles to see who would be best for the roles – even though the studio ended up going back to Coppola's original choices. For the price of four corned beef sandwiches, James Caan once cracked, Paramount could have perfectly cast their movie right from the very beginning.
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Transcript
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Today marks the 50th anniversary of a movie that made Hollywood history.
(SOUNDBITE OF DON VITO'S "PARLA PIU PIANO (MALAVITO)"
MARTIN: There it is. "The Godfather" opened on March 14, 1972 and made stars of Al Pacino and Diane Keaton. And it rescued Marlon Brando's fading career. But "The Godfather" came very close to being made with a completely different cast. NPR's Neda Ulaby shares what could have been.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Its impossible today to imagine any other actor playing Don Corleone, jowls stiff and heavy, draped in darkness at his daughter's wedding.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE GODFATHER")
MARLON BRANDO: (As Don Vito Corleone) You don't even think to call me Godfather.
ULABY: But in his book about the making of "The Godfather," journalist Mark Seal says it was a fight to get Marlon Brando cast.
MARK SEAL: They wanted anybody but Brando.
ULABY: Seal's book is called "Leave The Gun, Take The Cannoli." It dives into the details of how Marlon Brando was seen as a washed up, temperamental diva by Paramount Studio suits, who wanted a star more like...
SEAL: Ernest Borgnine or Carlo Ponti, the husband of Sophia Loren.
ULABY: Or Anthony Quinn, Danny Thomas or Burt Lancaster, the hard-boiled hero of film noir classics like "I Walk Alone."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "I WALK ALONE")
BURT LANCASTER: (As Frankie Madison) You know what you've done. Cheating me - one cross after another. Dave, I'm going to kill you...
SEAL: Burt Lancaster is conceivable.
ULABY: So, perhaps, was Orson Welles. He desperately wanted to play Don Corleone, according to the novel's author.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CITIZEN KANE")
ORSON WELLES: (As Kane) Rosebud.
ULABY: How fun to imagine the auteur behind "Citizen Kane" fighting with 29-year-old Francis Ford Coppola on "The Godfather" set. But dozens of actors were considered before coming to Marlon Brando.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE GODFATHER")
BRANDO: (As Don Vito Corleone) Why do you come to me? Why do I deserve this generosity?
ULABY: Brando did not even want to star in "The Godfather," says journalist Mark Seal.
SEAL: But then he heard that Laurence Olivier was being considered for the role, and professional jealousy won out because Laurence Olivier? He can't play a mafia don.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE GODFATHER")
BRANDO: (As Don Vito Corleone) It was so unfortunate, so unnecessary.
ULABY: So many casting could-have-beens. Anthony Perkins and Burt Reynolds were allegedly in the running to play hot-tempered Sonny Corleone. And as the Godfather's youngest child, the role that made Al Pacino famous, it nearly went to one of his more bankable rivals, says Mark Seal.
SEAL: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford.
ULABY: Robert Redford as Michael Corleone. As Marlon Brando said in another Coppola film...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "APOCALYPSE NOW")
BRANDO: (As Colonel Walter E. Kurtz) The horror.
SEAL: Warren Beatty, Ryan O'Neal, Jack Nicholson. Martin Sheen was considered. And it went on and on.
ULABY: So why not Al Pacino?
SEAL: Al Pacino was this amazing actor, but he was short, and nobody knew him.
ULABY: And nobody knew Robert Duvall as a star when he played the mafia family's lawyer, who negotiates with an on-screen movie producer on the Godfather's behalf.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE GODFATHER")
ROBERT DUVALL: (As Tom Hagen) You're going to have some union problems. My client could make them disappear. Also, one of your top stars has just moved from marijuana to heroin.
JOHN MARLEY: (As Jack Woltz) Are you trying to muscle me?
ULABY: That producer ends up in bed with the bloody head of a prize racehorse. Supposedly, the role of the consigliere was desired by Elvis Presley, who had at least played a singing racecar driver in a movie called "Speedway."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SPEEDWAY")
ELVIS PRESLEY: (As Steve Grayson, singing) Oh, baby, I'm going to teach you what love's all about.
SEAL: Can you imagine? I mean, OK, look. Robert Duvall was majestic in that role.
ULABY: They all were, says journalist Mark Seal. He says Robert De Niro was up for a small role in the original "Godfather," and he would have been great. But had he been cast, De Niro never would have ended up starring as another character in "The Godfather II." As Don Corleone says, each man has his own destiny. Neda Ulaby, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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