Cigar Aficionado editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken sat down with director Francis Ford Cop-pola in 2003 for a lengthy conversation about The Godfather. The discussion revealed one remarkable detail after another about Coppola’s classic film. Excerpts from that exclusive interview follow. You can read the entire conversation at cigaraficionado.com.
SHANKEN: The Godfather is frequently named as America’s favorite movie. But there are reports that Paramount offered the film to as many as 30 other directors before you, and they all turned it down.
COPPOLA: I don’t know if 30 directors turned down The Godfather, but definitely some directors did. There had been a movie a year or so before The Godfather based on a novel called The Brotherhood, starring Kirk Douglas. It was a big studio production, sort of about the Mafia. It was not successful. When The Godfather proposition came out, a lot of people thought, “That won’t work.” Hollywood is very quick to judge what can work and what can’t work. So, the idea didn’t really light a fire with anyone. The movie studio executives concluded, when [Mario] Puzo’s book first came out, that they would make a movie very cheap and they would get a young guy who knew about the new cost-conscious techniques.
This story is from the March - April 2022 edition of Cigar Aficionado.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March - April 2022 edition of Cigar Aficionado.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
CIGAR AFICIONADO'S 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW
AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT A YEAR'S WORTH OF CIGAR RATINGS
A Soprano No More
Michael Imperioli is standing just inside the door of Scarlet, he and his wife's new bar and restaurant on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Like Father Like Son
Charlie Woods is growing up. Will he follow Tiger's famous footsteps?
THE SPHERE LIGHTS UP LAS VEGAS
IN A CITY FILLED WITH BRIGHT SHINY OBJECTS, NOTHING CATCHES THE EYE MORE THAN THIS $2.3 BILLION DOME
Secretariat's Ride to Derby Glory
Even the most hallowed of sports records get eclipsed. Roger Bannister was the first to run a four-minute mile, but that feat has been vanquished again and again.
Smoking In (And Around) Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky, has all the charm and character of a city with deep connections to a pair of American sporting pastimes: horse racing and baseball.
The Drink of the Derby
More than 120,000 icy cold Mint Juleps will be served on May 4 at Churchill Downs
The Brown-Forman Way
For more than a century and a half, the Kentucky whiskey giant behind Woodford Reserve, Old Forester and many other spirits brands has prospered by matching tradition with foresight
The Gambler
Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Farm has gone from a hobby to the top Thoroughbred horse breeding operation in America
Living for the Track
FanDuel host Michael Joyce has been in love with horse racing since he was a boy