'The Godfather' Family: A Look Inside

Then Paramount said..

You're not gonna use a real horse's head, so how can you do it?

Make one out of plaster.

So as the date approached..

They sent a horse's head from Hollywood.

- It was all dusty and old. - Mr. Ed!

- A horse is a horse of course - Only gonna be shot on one side.

-So we go to the horse lovers. - They protested that.

We ordered it from the same source where they get the pet food.

We wanted a horse that matched the real horse.

Then we had to put a certain diamond pattern on the head.

I just remember about that thing.

We kept this head on ice because--

The day we shot the scene, it was extremely hot.

John Marley stayed in bed with this horse's head in this heat.

It was a little tacky.

Funny thing about the horse's head ls I read the book wrong.

I thought..

The horse was in the bed with him, he looked at the sheets.

But now as I read it, that's the way it is in the movie.

In reality, in the book, the horse's head was in front when he got up.

- That little mystery-- - It wasn't in the bed?

No. Led me to suggest, what if he discovers it--

He wakes up, he feels flesh and then this.

That wasn't the way the book was. But I misread it that way.

As the movies were made, The Godfather became...

the biggest home movie in history.

The man who doesn't spend time with his family, can never be a real man.

We gotta get up close like this. You blow their brains on your suit.

You're my older brother, but don't ever take sides against the family.

We're both part of the same hypocrisy.

But never think it applies to my family.

Movies were very new to me and before each take Duvall would say...

"No matter what you do, you're gonna laugh on this take.”

It's because I admire you and I love you...

that I kept things secret from you.

Do you expect me to let you go?

Do you expect me to let you take my children from me?

The Godfather was textured or perfumed...

by our memories of our Italian-American family.

Yeah, it starts the cut.

- Cut the-- - We gotta cut.

I liked it. That worked good when you played you hadn't been let up.

For 20 years, you've had this responsibility and the old, old--

The thing that's different about Godfather III and Godfather II...

is that Michael is different.

In order to see how he's different, we gotta get a few tastes of it.

We need a little emotion.

If we can put a little emotion in three places in the movie...

that would be the thing—-

Just have the weight of the gravity. That's what does it.

Know what I'm saying? From when you committed that first sin...

you've never had the weight off of you.

- Okay, okay. - Just to be different.

it seems to me...

the film lay in a balance.

And if I kicked it to be more personal...

more soap "operary,"” more emotional...

that that would be enough to kick it over.

The audience must be like this during this thing.

"Jesus, this guy is cracking.

For the first time I know...

he's really worried that he did the wrong thing and has a conscience.”

How can you put the intensity of that in this moment alone?

There's no one in the room except this corpse...

so he can speak freely.

I can see him by the coffin...

being very emotional.

And then he says...

"Where did I go wrong?" is what he's saying.

"Is it too late for me? Are my sins too great?

Did I love too much or too little?”

There's a point, get a virtuous man that commits an un-virtuous act.

He's so horrified that he's committed that UN-virtuous act...

it becomes more terrible.

The only trouble is these are all intellectual ideas.

We're trying to get something Just emotional..

That the guy's speaking from his heart.

He's a guy who's clearly getting ready for death...

and he's very worried, like King Lear...

that he hasn't set things right.

My history with The Godfather was the history of someone in trouble.

I Found the first movie very tough to do and to fight people off.

I was a young director.

I Hadn't really...

done a lot of work, and I had this opportunity to do this novel.

I Thought of myself as a professional director...

making an adaptation of a novel.

I knew that as the book became more popular and successful..

I realized..

It was beginning to outclass me...

in that wouldn't have gotten the job...

had five months later the book had become the sensation that it was.

Even in the early weeks...

of the production, I knew they were not happy with what I had done...

with the kind of classic style that I chose in rushes...

didn't impress them.

But I just wanted to survive it.

I knew my ideas regarding the casting were not popular.

Had been a difficult time to try to convince the studio...

that my notions about casting were right.

I remember he was having a lot of problems.

Every time he mentioned Brando's name...

one of the executives--

Executives is the right word--

Said, "If you mention his name again, you're out.”

The guy who was then president said, "As president of Paramount--"

These are his exact words. "As president of Paramount Pictures...

Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture.”

To you and your boss, Johnny Fontane will never get that movie.

I remember I fell on the floor. I said, "At least give me a chance."

"All right. If, number one, he does the movie for nothing...

if he does the screen test and puts up a bond guaranteeing...

that none of his shenanigans will cost a delay, you can consider him.”

I said, "All right.”

I called up Brando, who I didn't know. Had made that contact.

"What if I do some makeup tests?" I said...

to get around the screen test.

1 bought Italian cheese and cigars.

We were just shooting and shooting.

He saw the cheese, and he started..

To take his hair, put shoe polish on it.

He says, "He's like a bull dog. I wanna have--"

He's doing this right there and I'm shooting it.

Then he started going--

He put Kleenex in his mouth, and had black-- It's remarkable to see.

What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully?

If you had come to me in friendship...

then the scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering now.

And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies...

then they would become my enemies.

And then they would fear you.

Be my friend...

Godfather?

I forget the amount of time, but a very short time...

he knew the cast.

As a matter of fact, Bobby Duvall, Al Pacino and myself...

flew up to San Francisco.

Eleanor, his wife, put a bow! over our head, cut our hair.

And with a 16 millimeter camera, we improvised, did some stuff:

And that was it.

Don Corleone, please.

He's good. He's good.

That cost him like four corned beef sandwiches.

I was more or less just sort of wandering.

I didn't know what was going on. Movies were very new to me.

Before each take, Duvall would say...

"No matter what, you'll laugh on this take.” I didn't want to laugh.

Sonny, if your father dies, make the deal.

Easy for you to say. He's not your father.

Wait a minute. It's easy for you to say. He's not your father!

It's easy for you to say. It ain't your father!

Fuck you and your asshole!

- Very nice, Jimmy. - Thank you.

- Come on, you asshole! - You started!

I know you don't wanna hear it, but if your father dies, make the deal.

That's easy for you to say, he's not your father.

Jimmy wanted to play Michael, "No, you should play Sonny."

I said, "You read Hagen. I kept saying it was Hogan."

"No, it's Hagen."

It was all like a joke. Who knew what it was gonna be?

I had seen Al on Broadway. I said, "This kid would be terrific.”

We talked about it informally.

I'm not saying, "Sonny?

Or, Freddie, come here, I'd like you to meet--"

I'm not doing that.

He does it in his indirect way. He doesn't say...

"My father is a criminal, a gangster who has been shot.”

He tells anecdotes, and at first it's nice.

It's lighter, it's fine. But this scene is a serious scene.

When I read The Godfather, when I'd see the character of Michael...

I saw Al's face.

Luca Brasi held a revolver against Halt's head.

And my father told Hali that he needed his signature...

or his brains would be on the contract.

He wasn't a star...

which was not pleasing...

to the executives at the time.

He didn't look like stars looked like at that time in the business.

When they were suggesting like...

Ryan O'Neal or Robert Redford could be a northern Italian...

I already had Al's face ingrained.

Why are these people bothering your father on a day like this?

That's because they know...

that no Sicilian can refuse any request--

For some reason they were...

not happy with Al's test.

But I knew Francis wanted Al.

Take 104.

Action.

I was aware that they didn't want me.

At one point, it actually seemed okay.

I Thought, "Francis, look, we'll do another movie together.”

I was relatively young so I didn't know quite--

I thought, "Maybe they're all like this."

I had seen movies about Hollywood. I thought maybe...

that's why all the screen tests.

This is a slow wedding.

This isn't a wedding!

One night I got a call from Francis. He was in New York.