ONCE UPON A CRIME
TV Guide Magazine|April 25 - May 08, 2022
Think making The Godfather was easy? Fuhgeddaboudit! The Offer spins the crazy, chaotic tale behind the beloved American classic
JIM HALTERMAN
ONCE UPON A CRIME

The Offer SERIES PREMIERE Thursday, April 28, Paramount+

HOLLYWOOD IS A business, but, to quote a line from 1972's The Godfather, some people take it very personal. Like the time Robert Evans, head of the studio that, in 1970, wanted to turn Mario Puzo's gangland bestseller into a film, found a dead rat in his bed. Whoever put it there clearly didn't want to see The Godfather onscreen.

"I don't know what the f--- you've gotten me into, but I'm not getting killed for some gangster movie!" a spooked Evans (played with grand flair by Matthew Goode) shouts in The Offer, the 10-episode Paramount+ limited series that dramatizes the crazy real-life antics that nearly put the kibosh on one of the greatest films of all time.

Fifty years after it first hit theaters, it now seems inconceivable that The Godfather almost didn't make the journey from the page to the projector. Also hard to imagine: the idea that its off-set story might be about as dramatic as the film itself. But as The Offer makes clear in juicy detail, filming the Oscar-winning epic required beating back “a constant escalation of risk and stakes," says Miles Teller, who plays the remarkably even-tempered Albert S. Ruddy, the producer. His most prominent prior credit: cocreating the zany 1960s WWII sitcom Hogan's Heroes. "This was a moment for Al to truly define himself as a bona fide film producer," Teller adds, "and he wasn't going to let anything stop him—including the heavy hand of the Mafia."

This story is from the April 25 - May 08, 2022 edition of TV Guide Magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the April 25 - May 08, 2022 edition of TV Guide Magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM TV GUIDE MAGAZINEView All
THE MASKED SINGER
TV Guide Magazine

THE MASKED SINGER

It’s no shock that the over-the-top competition featuring mystery celebrities in masks and elaborate costumes would go all out for Halloween.

time-read
1 min  |
October 16 - November 5, 2023 (Triple issue)
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
TV Guide Magazine

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

FIRST SHOWN LIVE on TV as part of Ford Star Jubilee in 1955, then filmed by Robert Altman in 1988, Herman Wouk’s courtroom classic (adapted from his 1951 novel) is of special interest in its latest version as the final film directed by Oscar winner William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist).

time-read
1 min  |
October 16 - November 5, 2023 (Triple issue)
Lessons in Chemistry
TV Guide Magazine

Lessons in Chemistry

PART JULIA CHILD, part Marie Curie, with the movie-star glow of a Kim Novak, brilliant chemist Elizabeth Zott (the luminous Brie Larson) is ahead of her 1950s times.

time-read
1 min  |
October 16 - November 5, 2023 (Triple issue)
POST-STRIKE UPDATE
TV Guide Magazine

POST-STRIKE UPDATE

THE JOKES FLEW fast and furious on Monday, October 2, from late-night hosts back at work after the 148-day writers’ strike had come to an end.

time-read
1 min  |
October 16 - November 5, 2023 (Triple issue)
QUIZ MASTER! THE REAL AMY SCHNEIDER STORY
TV Guide Magazine

QUIZ MASTER! THE REAL AMY SCHNEIDER STORY

AFTER HER APPEARANCES in 40 Jeopardy! episodes, Tournament of Champions and Jeopardy! Masters, fans may think they know Amy Schneider.

time-read
1 min  |
October 16 - November 5, 2023 (Triple issue)
FRASIER IS IN THE BUILDING!
TV Guide Magazine

FRASIER IS IN THE BUILDING!

Kelsey Grammer's famous psychiatrist moves back to Boston to hang out with a whole new TV family. (But there's still a bar!)

time-read
4 mins  |
October 16 - November 5, 2023 (Triple issue)
DAVID MCCALLUM
TV Guide Magazine

DAVID MCCALLUM

WHEN MARK HARMON first met David McCallum in 2003 while filming the backdoor pilot for NCIS (which aired on JAG), he gushed, “I can’t imagine I’m shaking the hand of Illya Kuryakin.”

time-read
2 mins  |
October 16 - November 5, 2023 (Triple issue)
Harry Wild
TV Guide Magazine

Harry Wild

We're just wild about Harry...and so are viewers. They've turned this Dublin-set series-about a rambunctious retired literature professor (Jane Seymour) who solves mysteries-into a success, and its star couldn't be happier.

time-read
1 min  |
September 25 - October 15, 2023
Bosch: Legacy
TV Guide Magazine

Bosch: Legacy

In Bosch: Legacy’s first season finale, private eye Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) was enjoying success after saving a mogul’s young heir from an assassin and solving a murder.

time-read
1 min  |
September 25 - October 15, 2023
Upload
TV Guide Magazine

Upload

The sly sci-fi comedy about murdered tech bro Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell), whose consciousness was uploaded to a luxurious virtual-afterlife resort called Lakeview, is back after a year and a half for Season 3, and things are getting trickier than remembering your passwords!

time-read
1 min  |
September 25 - October 15, 2023