The Godfather Trilogy Did You know Topic

Post something that you may know about that took place behind the scenes of any of The Godfather movies.


James Caan was paid the same amount of money for appearing in ONE scene in Godfather II as he was for co-starring in all of the first Godfather.


Don Cardi

The Actor who played carlo arranged for filming at the Corleone Mall. Actually he got that role because of this.

Winona Ryder was the original choice to play Mary in GFIII.

James Caan could have been Michael Corleone instead of Al Pacino...

De Niro screen tested for - "Sonny"

The only one that liked Al Pacino for "Michael" was Coppola.

Robert Redford was another option for Michael Corleone.

The scenes which are purported to be of Corleone, Sicily were shot elsewhere as they thought that Corleone looked too modern.

I wonder if how much the Corleonesi cosa nostra would have taxed them to film there.

Tony Lip (Carmine Lupertazzi of the Sopranos) appears in the wedding scene in GFI as an extra.

The tollbooth used in the scene of Sonny's murder was going to be demolished and rebuilt. So the studio was given the ok to trash the tollbooth for that scene.


Don Cardi

Lee Strasberg was originally offered only $10,000 to portray Hyman Roth in GF II.

Danny Thomas considered buying Paramount so he could play Vito Corleone.

Marlon Brando and James Caan (and perhaps Robert Duvall, but I'm not sure) were very fond of mooning one another on the set of The Godfather. Pacino's refusal to participate in such antics only served to alienate him from the rest of the cast, which actually made him happy, as he felt that it enabled him to better understand Michael's alienation from his family.

Teresa Hagen is one of the only actors to appear in all 3 movies.

During the scene where the paramedics are carrying Vito up the stairs on the gurney, Brando secretly put 400 lbs worth of weights in the gurney as a practical joke. If you look closely, you can see the actors carrying him struggling a little more than necessary for a 170+ lb man.

Don Tommassino is played by 3 different actors

I think Don Tommasino in GF1 and 3 is the same actor.

I thought so at first, too, but it's a different person. In The Godfather, Tommasino is played by Corrado Gaipa; in GFIII, he's played by Vittorio Duse.

Back to the game...

Clemenza was supposed to be in The Godfather: Part II, in place of Frank Pentangeli, but requested far too much money for the part, and wanted a colleague of his to write his own script. In result, Clemenza was killed off (That wasn't no heart attack!), and Pentangeli was born.

Other actors who appear in all three films:
Al Pacino, Talia Shire, Diane Keaton, Sofia Coppola, Richard Bright (Neri), and the kid who played Anthony.

Are you sure about that? The chracter of Anthony appears in all three films, but the actors themselves, well it can't be. Anthony is a different age in all three movies.

Anthony Gounaris in GF
James Gounaris in GFII
Franc D'Ambrosio in GFIII

Now the Anthony's in GFI and GFII may be brothers in real life.



Don Cardi

Yes, DC, they are brothers.

Lenny Montana who played Luca Brasi was a professional wrestler. He wrestled under the names of: The Zebra Kid, Lenny 'Bull' Montana, Chief Chickawicki.

The scene of Kay and Michael at Connie's wedding, where Mike is telling the Luca Brasi story, was shot at night. Gordon Willis did an incredible job with the lighting.

I am loving all this information keep the posting going Clapping

Ahuh. You learn alot from this.

Both Marlon Brando and Al Pacino got special dental appliances from their dentists for this movie: Brando to give Vito his signiture "bulldog" look, and Pacino to make his jaw look broken.


Don Cardi

Yes Clapping Yes Cheering

The format of the Baptism sequence was not Coppola's idea, despite his directing genius.

Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi) was a criminal in real life. He has shot people, and worked together with some guys of average position in the maffia, but I don't think he was ever 'made'.

Where did you read this Enzo?


Don Cardi

"De Amerikaanse maffia - Een geschiedenis"

Translated:
"The American maffia - A history"

Written by Thomas Reppetto

Interesting

In the original draft of the GFII script, Tom Hagen was sleeping with Sonny's widow Sandra

Thanks.


Don Cardi

Frank Sivero, who plays young Dominic Abbandando in GFII, appears as an extra on the street when Sonny beats up Carlo in GFI.

...and so was Sofia Coppola (played Connie's and Carlo's baby in the baptism scene in GF1 and was an extra in GF2 when camera panned the immigrants ship The Moshulu

Gene Hackman bought the rights to the book from Mario Puzo but felt is was too violent for him to portray. Plus, he was busy with The French Connection and The Poseidon Adventure

Sivero played young Genco.

Although that was removed, one line mistakenly was kept:

Michael (to Tom): Take your wife, children and mistress to Las Vegas

Also, the cat in Pt 1's opening scene was an improvisation by Brando; it was a stray in the studio parking lot.

The actor who plays Merle Johnson's actual name is Merle Johnson.

Both Vincent (when he hit the thug with a gun) and Sonny (beating up Carlo) actually harmed the actors.

When Michael calls to find out about the Don's condition, he dials Long Beach 4-5620.

The Sicilian hat worn by Michael's bodyguards is called a Coppola.

When the Don is angry at Johnny, he calls him a finocchio, the Italian equivelent of calling someone a ***.

When Michael speaks to the Turk in Italian, the Turk says:

"I am sorry. What happened to your father was business. I have much respect for your father, but your father... his thinking is old fashioned. You must understand why I had to do that. Now let's work through where we go from here." After Mike comes out of the restroom Sollozo speaks Italian again without subtitles this time saying, "Everything all right? I respect myself, understand? And cannot allow another man to hold me back. What happened was unavoidable. I had the unspoken support of the other Family Dons. If your father were in better health, without his eldest son running things, no disrespect intended, we wouldn't have this nonsense. We will stop fighting until your father is well and can resume bargaining. No vengeance will be taken. We will have peace, but your family should interfere no longer."

-The Deen

Sorry that it isn't chronological

I know a lady shouldn't, but may I ask you what the asterisks stand for? I mean, it's unfair that all of you know what finocchio means and I don't! Well, actually I know what finocchio means...I just would like to know the English equivalent!!!

The only swear word (I know) spelt with three letters in English is "f*g."

I managed to get the word! Thanks, Peter!

Isn't it just a homosexual?

actually it's Troy Donahue who's real name is Merle Johnson

Johnny Ola in GFII is played by Dominic Chianese, aka Uncle Junior of The Sopranos.

Godfather spelt backwards is Rehtafdog.

You learn something new everyday!

Al Pacino and Diane Keaton were romantically involved in real life during or about the time of the filming of the Godfather.

...and rumoured to have rekindled that during the filming of Part Three.

I hope it wasn't taken as disrespectful, the backward spelling thing - I was just taken by all of the knowledge and left feeling like I had to say something - anything!

I took no offense to your post, found it humorous actually

Andy Garcia who plays Vincent Mancini is not at all Italian in real life.