Author puts Corleone clan to rest

By Belinda Goldsmith
Tue Nov 14, 12:56 PM ET


NEW YORK, Nov 14 (Reuters Life!) - It was an offer author Mark Winegardner could not refuse when he was asked to finish off the saga of America's most powerful fictional crime family, the Corleone clan, and let them rest in peace.

The creator of The Godfather, author Mario Puzo, won a huge following after his 1969 novel about the secretive world of organized crime became a best-seller and led to the successful "Godfather" film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

The legions of Godfather devotees were given more information about the family after Puzo's estate chose Winegardner to fill in the gaps about the family in his book "The Godfather Returns" which was was published in 2004.

Winegardner has just released the final novel in the series, "The Godfather's Revenge," which moves the family onto its biggest stage of all -- the intersection of organized crime and national politics.

After about four years of living with mob, Winegardner says the Godfather series is now finally at an end -- at least on paper, although another film is almost inevitable:

Q: Is this really the end?
A: "Yes, it is. There would not be much to pick up from here. I was always trying to write in a way that everything would be resolved. Anything you could build on now would have to deal with some very minor characters."

Q: Are you glad it is over -- or will you miss the Corleones?
A: "I have spent almost more time with these violent, imaginary friends of mine than I have with my family in recent years. Any good novel really is the produce of an author's obsession. But writing a book is very difficult. I am always relieved to get to the end of it ... as there is always the fear that you will never finish it."

Q: Did you like the characters?
A: "You don't need to like the characters but I don't think it is possible to write a half decent book if you don't love the characters. In the "Godfather Returns," part of what I was doing was getting to know the characters and getting to love them. Loving something is not the same as approving something."

Q: Were you a Godfather fan when you chosen from a competitive process to complete the saga?
A: "Like half of the men in the world I was a fan but I was by no means a cultist. I was not one of those guys who could go around quoting long passages from the movies at the drop of a hat. I don't think a cultist could have done this. I ha to deal with characters invented by someone else, put my own artistic stamp on them and build." [Does that mean WE couldn't do it?? ]

Q: Why do you think you were chosen by Puzo's estate to complete the saga?
A: "I think they admired my previous work, my book "Crooked River Burning" (2001) was part of the key. I was already established with a body of work (three works of fiction and two non-fiction) so they knew they weren't taking a huge risk. I also think they thought my proposal was strong as well. Something that seemed obvious to me was that the Godfather ends in 1955 and Godfather III takes up in 1979. The only thing that is covered in that period is about six months in late 1958,early 1959. There was a blank sheet and events that were barely touched upon. Really core elements of the saga were left unresolved such as Michael Corleone's desire to take the family business legit..and the relationship between Michael and his unofficially adopted brother Tom Hagen."

Q: Do you think your books will be made into movies?
A: "I think it is inevitable at some point. Paramount owns the rights to it and it is in development. All the principal actors (from the previous films) are much too old but I think a great role can be reinvented by a great actor so I don't think that is a big impediment."

Q: Where do you go from here?
A: "I am moving onto a novel tentatively called "Emperor of Smut" which is loosely based on a real story about a Cleveland man who invented the international porn industry. Again it is mythologizing an underground secret world of American."

Q: What are you reading currently?
A: "The new Richard Ford novel. I am a big fan of Frank Bascombe novels."