The cast of The Godfather reunited at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday night to share memories and stories from the time when they were making the film, including how Francis Ford Coppola decided to direct the cinematic masterpiece.
"I knew nothing about [the book] or the author. I was attracted to it because I thought it was a foreign author, and an intellectual book about power," Coppola said of the Mario Puzo novel on which the film was based, but interestingly, on the same day he was reading the book, Brando called Coppola to turn down the lead role in The Conversation, which went on to star Gene Hackman.
Coppola also admitted he was not happy with the book at first, saying, "I was very disappointed when I first read it because it's very long. Much of the book—about a third—is about Lucy Mancini's anatomy," he joked.
Diane Keaton, who played Michael's wife, Kay, remarked that she auditioned with "about 100 Michaels," referring to how difficult it was to cast the part of Godfather heir Michael Corleone, even though Coppola only wanted Pacino for the part. "Every time I read the book, I saw his face," he said, adding, "Once you see someone in the role [while reading it], it is very hard to get that out of your head."
But producer Robert Evans disagreed, so Pacino had to audition "countless" times. "It seemed like I was always testing," Pacino said, and even after he was cast, producers pushed for another actor. "I kept testing after I got the part," he said. He tested so much, Pacino's girlfriend got on the phone with Coppola to say, "You're torturing him!"
Pacino and Diane Keaton bonded after shooting the opening wedding scene: "We got so loaded after that wedding sequence. We were theater actors, and we were not used to film," he said. "The whole thing had sort of a surreal feel to it. So we got back and started drinking: 'Where do we go from here? We're done, it's over! This is the worst film ever made!'"
Keaton admitted she hadn't seen The Godfather for 30 years, and only recently re-watched it on her computer. "I couldn't get over it. It was so astonishing, it was so beautiful... Every choice [Coppola] made was brilliant, and it was so unusual. I just kept crying," she recalled, even admitting she didn't pay much attention to the film, "Because I was the most outsider, weird person in the movie. And why was I cast again?"
Speaking of the scene where Kay tells Michael she didn't have a miscarriage but instead got an abortion, Coppola pointed out that was not in the book. It was actually Talia Shier, Coppola's sister, who suggested that brilliant plot point.
The cast also shared memories of when they had fun on set, especially with Brando, a notorious prankster. During the wedding scene, Robert Duvall said, "We kept mooning each other." But the joke ultimately was on him when a woman next to him turned and said, "Mr. Duvall, you're fine... But did you catch the balls on that Brando!?"
