Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather is one of the most celebrated and iconic films
of all time.
The crime saga is considered one of the greatest films ever made, and remains talked about
and ever relevant to this day.
In fact, the film recently celebrated it’s 40th anniversary, with Paramount Pictures
releasing a 4K restoration of the entire Godfather trilogy, with added bonus content.
Only two years ago Francis Ford Coppola released The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone,
a re-cut version of The Godfather Part III which Coppola has said is truer to his and
Godfather author Mario Puzo’s original vision for the film.
And the 4K restoration and Godfather Coda are not our only opportunities to re-visit
the world of the Corleones in recent times.
As I mentioned in 2020, there is actually a limited TV series coming out soon, called
‘The Offer’ in which the turbulent behind-the-scenes making of first Godfather movie is explored.
In fact, it is one of two Godfather making-of projects being developed, as there is also
a movie in the works starring Oscar Isaac.
Anyway, The Offer is set to be released in April of this year on Paramount’s streaming
platform, Paramount+.
It is a 10 episode series looking at producer Albert Ruddy’s time working on The Godfather.
The behind the scenes of the first Godfather movie is incredibly interesting, especially
given the involvement of the real-life underworld.
For example, as I’m sure will be included in The Offer, Al Ruddy was summoned by real
life mob boss Joe Colombo, who demanded to read the script to the film and wanted changes
made, such as the removal of the word ‘mafia’, threatening to otherwise cause the production
serious issues.
Many of the actors in the film had connections to the underworld, and some, such as Lenny
Montana, who played Luca Brasi, were actually in the mob!
In addition to the involvement of the mafia, there were other troubles on set, such as
director/producer battles, now-titanic actors like Al Pacino almost being fired and all
sorts of issues.
So there is material available for an interesting show, and recently the trailer for the limited
series dropped.
The series stars Miles Teller as Albert Ruddy, Matthew Goode as Robert Evans, the producer
who famously clashed with Francis Ford Coppola.
Coppola is being played by Dan Fogler, Mario Puzo by Patrick Gallo, Joe Colombo by Giovanni
Ribisi, Marlon Brando by Justin Chambers, Frank Sinatra by Frank John Hughes, Lenny
Montana by Lou Ferrigno, Al Pacino by Anthony Ippolito, Carlo Gambino by Anthony Skordi,
and Joseph Russo as Crazy Joe Gallo.
To be perfectly honest I’m familiar with only a few of these actors, but I suppose
it helps with the immersion to not see a big-name actor play the role of a famous person – whoever’s
best for the part I guess.
So from the roaster we can see that the series will probably focus heavily on the mob involvement
in the film.
The trailer itself is OK I guess.
I wasn’t overwhelmed; I wasn’t underwhelmed.
I was quite simply, whelmed.
There’s something about it, maybe the cameras they used or something, but something about
it looks a bit cheap.
From the little we see I can’t quite get the impression out of my head that we’re
seeing modern actors play dress-up and pretend they’re in the 70s.
I mean, Joe Colombo looks and speaks, if that is his voice, like a Saturday night live sketch
mobster.
There’s always a chance it could be great of course, but for me the trailer doesn’t
leave much of an impression.
It’s far to early to make a judgement.
I didn’t see any actors listed for the likes of Robert Duvall or James Caan, so I imagine
that this series will focus less on the actors and more on the producers and their fight
to get the film made.
I’ve got a feeling that the show might actually end just as The Godfather begins filming,
as the Joe Colombo and the Italian American Anti-Defamation league protests and all of
that stuff started happening before the cameras even started rolling.
Maybe they’re saving the story of the behind the scenes of the actual film itself for a
2nd season, if this one is a success.
The series creator Michael Tolkin has spoken about the project, saying:
All I knew about the making of The Godfather was that Mario Puzo got into a fight with
Frank Sinatra at Chasen’s.
So I had a five-minute scene and all I needed was nine hours and 55 minutes more.
Tolkin spend 5 days interviewing the real Al Ruddy, who is also an executive producer
on The Offer.
He went onto say: "What sealed it for me was when Al said, 'Every
day of making The Godfather was the worst day in my life,' and that told me we had a
show.
For every character in the film, getting it made or stopping it from being made was at
the core of their actions, and it was a matter of life and death to them.
So that’s not a gangster story, that’s a human story.
That’s what gave the book and the movie so much power.
Everyone is fighting for their existence.”
“Al has the most brilliant combination of tenacity and taste.
With all the forces against him, he moved steadily ahead, protecting the film’s vision,
not his own ego” So are you looking forward to this series
on the making of The Godfather?
Let me know what you think, in the comments below, and thanks for watching.