Marlon Brando's performance in the title role is considered among the five most accomplished screen performances from anywhere in the world. Hard as it may be to believe, Brando was not the first choice to play Don Vito Corleone. The British legend Sir Laurence Olivier was the first actor to be offered the role.
Orson Welles - Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather (1972)
Marlon Brando was always Francis Ford Coppola's first choice for the role of Don Vito Corleone.
Marlon Brando wasn't the first choice for the role
Truth is, Paramount told director Coppola that the actor would “never appear in a Paramount picture” and had pressured the director to cast Laurence Olivier instead.
Sergio Leone was Paramount's first choice to direct the film. Leone turned down the option, in order to work on his own gangster film Once Upon a Time in America. Peter Bogdanovich was then approached but he also declined the offer because he was not interested in the mafia.
Michael is the youngest son of Vito Corleone, a Sicilian immigrant who builds a Mafia empire. Upon his father's death, Michael succeeds him as the don of the Corleone crime family.
Anthony Perkins not only auditioned for Sonny, but also for Tom Hagen. Originally Caan was to be cast as the main character Michael Corleone (Sonny's youngest brother), while Carmine Caridi was signed as Sonny. However Coppola demanded that the role of Michael be played by Al Pacino instead.
Brando did not appear at the function but a buckskin clad American Indian woman Sacheen Little Feather, got on the stage and told the audience: “Marlon Brando very regretfully cannot accept this award because of the treatment of American Indians in this country to-day on the television, on reruns and recent happenings ...
A distinguished character actor, Richard S. Castellano was the highest earning actor in The Godfather, whose fame outside the saga included playing Joe Girelli in The Super. He also received an Academy Award nomination for his role in Love and Other Strangers.
For his breakout role as Michael Corleone in 1972's The Godfather, Al Pacino was reportedly paid $35,000. This relatively small salary was due to him being a relative unknown at the time he was cast, though the fact that the movie launched his career most likely more than made up for the lack of upfront payment.
Lenny Montana(1926-1992)
Tall and solidly built, this Italian-American professional wrestler turned actor was born Lenny Passaforo in Brooklyn, New York, and is best remembered for his first on-screen role as the not too bright but ever loyal bodyguard Luca Brasi in.
Jones's 2007 book The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay, Paramount executive Robert Evans wanted Ryan O'Neal to portray Michael Corleone, based primarily on his Oscar-nominated performance in Love Story.
Damone eventually declined the role because of a salary dispute and also because he did not want to provoke the mob or anger Frank Sinatra, whom Damone profoundly respected. Ultimately, the part of Johnny Fontane was given to Martino.
'” Evans says he had to enlist his own godfather—Sidney Korshak, the notorious Hollywood superlawyer and fixer to the Mob—to get Pacino released from his MGM contract to appear in The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, a comedy based on Jimmy Breslin's novel about the Mob. (Robert De Niro ended up in the role.)
Pacino took offense to the fact that despite having a bigger role with more screen time in the film over the protagonist Marlon Brando, he was relegated to being called a supporting actor. Considering it an insult to his reputation, Pacino decided to skip the Academy Awards in protest.
The Corleone Family earns millions from illegal rackets such as gambling, bookmaking, extortion, prostitution, bootlegging, money laundering, and murder. Even Don Corleone's “legitimate” holdings in banks, real estate, and olive oil operate as fronts for his criminal activities.
Al Pacino's portrayal of Michael Corleone is partly so spectacular because of the way he is able to interact with his co-stars. The relationships he creates on screen are incredibly believable and the variety of chemistry he strikes up with his peers really makes it feel like they are a real family.
He also portrayed the lead Joe Vitale in Joe and Sons (1975–1976). Castellano did not reprise his role as Clemenza in The Godfather Part II (1974). He was reportedly excluded because Castellano and his agent insisted on having control over the character's dialogue.
The Godfather Part II
Clemenza does not appear in the present timeline of the film due to a disagreement between Castellano and Paramount Pictures over the character's dialogue and the amount of weight Castellano was expected to gain for the part.
(NEXSTAR) – The Academy Award is generally regarded as one of the highest honors that an actor can receive — the keyword being “generally.” In the history of the Oscars, however, there have only been three people who refused their awards: actors George C. Scott and Marlon Brando, and screenwriter Dudley Nichols.
The first-ever Academy award refusal happened in 1932. Screenwriter Dudley Nichols rejected the golden statue after winning the award for Best Screenplay. Nichols refused to accept the award because there was an ongoing writer's strike in the industry.
To date, just three people have rejected an Oscar out of well over 2,000 winners (though one of them eventually accepted it a few years later). The first person to reject an Oscar was screenwriter Dudley Nichols, who won for Best Screenplay for the 1935 film, 'The Informer'.
Connie (who was unaware of her husband's role in Sonny's murder), hysterical after Carlo's death, blames Michael, denouncing him in front of his wife, Kay.
That is the irony: Carlo did not ever betray Michael. He liked him well enough, and believed him when Michael told Carlo that he would be a key part of his inner circle with the Nevada transition. However, Carlo betrayed Sonny, which was no small matter. He set Sonny up for murder.
7 Carlo Rizzi Betrayed The Family Because He Felt Mistreated
This betrayal didn't go unpunished as Michael eventually got revenge by killing Carlo. While it may have gone against Vito's wishes, Michael's decision proved he would not tolerate anyone betraying his family.
Vito warns Michael that Barzini will set Michael up to be killed under the guise of a meeting; Barzini will use one of the Corleone family's most trusted members as an intermediary. Shortly afterwards, on July 29, 1955, Vito dies of a heart attack in his garden while playing with his grandson, Michael's son Anthony.