Could Be Coppolla

While most of us know the Godfather as one of the greatest films in the history of Cinema, many people are not aware of the great trials that went into the casting of each and every character involved In this masterpiece. As actors and filmmakers, we know that tenacity is everything. It is nice to be reminded that even even artists of the calibre of Al Pacino and Marlon Brando have experienced rejection. At the time in movies, leading actors were tall and had a particular look. Al Pacino had none of those things. At 5 foot 7, he did not have a stature that the studio felt would be strong enough to play a military man that turns into a ruthless mobster and the head of an organized crime family. The studio did not embrace the vision that Francis Ford Coppola had for the movie. When Coppolla saw Al Pacino, he saw pure talent and a new type of movie star. Pacino, after months of screen tests (because the studio frankly did not want him) told Coppola that he “did not respond well to environments in which he did not feel like he was welcome". Coppolla persisted and the rest is history.

When Coppola initially mentioned Brando as a possibility to play Vito Corleone, the head of Paramount pictures, Charles Bluhdorn, told Coppola the actor would “never appear in a Paramount picture”. Copolla cleverly placed this plot device in the film when it comes to the part Johnny Fontaine wants in Hollywood that the studio executive is "resfusing" to give him. The studio pushed the director to cast Laurence Olivier as Vito before eventually agreeing to pursue Brando under three stringent conditions: Number 1) Brando would have to do the movie for “nothing ($250,000 - which was well under he was paid previously), Number 2) he would have to do a screen test and, Number 3) he would have to put up a bond guaranteeing that none of his shenanigans would cause/cost a delay in the film. To this, Copolla said “Alright, alright, alright”. Francis Ford Coppola then called Marlon Brando, whom he did not know and asked Brando to go through some make up tests, to get around the screen test. Coppola went out and bought Italian cheese and cigars. After shooting a few takes Brando started playing with some of the cheese eventually putting it in between his cheeks, he also made his hair shiny by putting shoe polish on it and pushed it back. He had found the look of Don Vito Corleone. In the actual movie he would go on to use Kleenex in his cheeks.

We're all going to face places and situations where we may not “feel welcome”. If it's work, it doesn’t matter. If you know you are bringing quality, it doesn’t matter. I am not saying “go where you are not welcome” - I am saying don’t give up just because someone in an authoritative position does not like you. Especially if you have cheerleader and admirer like Francis Ford Coppola on your team. And here’s the thing, you never know who the next great Director is going to be, so treat them all like you would a Coppola.