Brando, Duvall and Castellano Role Reprisals

Now I have some question for you hardcore GF fans. Brando turned down the oscar for GF I, I think I heard he saw his preformance and only saw the faults. He thought he didn't deserve the best actor award. He also didnt' show up to GF II for the last scene to be filmed and thus wasn't in it. Could anybody elaborate on this.

Duvall, wasn't in GF III. I don't blame him, his role in I and II were virtually identical. His charcter had little growth between the two movies. Is this the reason he didn't return?

Richard S. Castellano, who played Peter Clemenza didn't return for GF II. Michael V. Gazzo is great as Pentageli, but what is the reason Castellano didn't return to take on the role.

In a word, MONEY.

All three of the holdouts ultimately didn't reprise their roles in the sequels because they felt they weren't being offered enough money.

Other factors came into their refusals (ie. Richard Castellano allegedly wanted complete script approval for his character, and Coppola refused), but I believe if their salary demands were met we would've seen all three of them in the sequels.

didnt Brando decide to not accept the oscar because he was protesting the treatment of native americans?

yeah i think so, i read about it a while ago.

Well the reason Clemenza did not return on GFII was because Clemenza was the highest payed actor in that movie and did not play becuase they did not offer him enough money.

Okay-first off, Brando dies in GF1, how much character develpment can you have with a dead guy. They only wanted him to do a cameo and he was going to do it, up until the last minute, because of money issues.

Now Castellano said no to play Clemenza in GF2 because he said if he was going to be in the movie, he wanted his assistant to write all the lines. Coppolla tried to negotiate, but Castellano, wouldn't budge. Oh and by the way, I liked Pentangali better, I wish he was the clemenza in GF1.

Sadly, these days, and those days, its all about money. The same thing happened to Duvall, who wanted more money for GF3. Many faults in the trilogy (there weren't too many in my opinion) were caused by money problems. All I can say is, its a shame...

And...they should've given Duvall the money he wanted. Because unlike GFII which excelled without the grace of Brando's million-dollar cameo...GFIII would have probably been a far better picture had Tom Hagen remained.

Personally, I always thought that at this stage in their lives (GFIII), the characters of Michael and Tom would've complimented each other quite nicely. What a shame we didn't get to see that evolve.

It may have been (and still be) all about money, but that is true on the side of the producers as well as the actors.

Apple

Money is the main issue here. I would say pay Duvall as much as he wanted though. I'm sure Coppola would have done that, but the studio wouldn't pay the amount requested.

Forget about Coppola, If I was Duvall, I wouldn't ask for so much money-but I'm not and, I guess thats a good thing.

The Reason for Brando not accepting his oscar was a stand against the poor treatment of native americans.

I also read that he wouldn't appear in that bit in GF II because he was treated badly by the studio.

Clemenza's role wasn't reprised in GF II for a few reasons. Castellano wanted too much money, he wanted his aide (or whoever) to write his lines, and I read somewhere that he wanted to play young clemenza!

I think I heard an interview with Duvall on H. Stern once and Duvall said something to the effect of, "they spent all this money on a staircase and they didn't even hear me out on my side of the negotiations."

He was probably low-balled and wasn't allowed to state is reason for wanting more money.

I agree. GF3 would have been a lot better with Duvall.