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������ ����� �����. An impri i mprint nt of St. Mart Ma rtin’s in’s Press. Sign up to vote on this title
��� ��������� ������. Copyright © 2012 by Tom Santopietro. All rights re Useful Not useful served. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
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Don Vito in Hollywo Hollywood od
I am willing to sacri�ce my best scene to make the �lm better . . . anything . . . I can always put it back. That’s the difference with life— you can’t can’t put it back. —F������ F��� C������ C������
W��� F������ F��� C������ arrived at Marlon Brando’s home in late 1970 1970 to shoot a “makeup test” for the t he actor’s actor’s role as aging ag ing Ma�a Ma �a chieftain Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather, had exactly one Sign up to he vote on this title Useful Not thing thi ng on his mind: how to conduct conduct whatamounted touseful a screen test without insulting the world famous Academy Award–winning Award–winning ac-
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��� �����������
Mario Puzo, whose 1969 novel had launched The Godfather tidal tidal wave, Coppola had �xated on the idea of the brilliant, mercurial Brando in the title role, and nothing could persuade him to look elsewhere. Forget Burt Lancaster, Ernest Borgnine, Frank Sinatra, Anthony Quin Quinn, n, and eve every ry other other Hollywood Hollywood star who who had expressed an interest in the role. For Francis Ford Coppola, budding auteur, only one actor could ful�ll the complex requirements of the role. Now he just had to �nd a way to �nesse the test, so that the most acclaimed �lm actor of the past thirty years did not realize that he was being screen-tested screen-tested for the consideration of Paramount Pictures executive executives. s. It was actually co-screenwriter co-screenwriter Puzo who had originated the idea of casting Brando by sending the actor a handwritten letter couched in the most �attering of terms: “I think you’re the only actor who can play the Godfather with w ith that quiet qu iet force force and irony i rony the part requires.” Don Vito Corleone would appear on-screen on-screen for only one-third onethird of the movie, but Puzo inherently understood that an actor of Brando’s Brando’s strength, streng th, one who could could dominate domin ate scenes and cast a presence over over the entire �lm, �l m, would prove prove crucial crucia l for sustaini sustai ning ng mood and texture throughout. The battle over Brando—upstarts Brando—upstarts Coppola pitted Sign up to voteand on thisPuzo title Not useful against agai nst the t he collective collective corporate weight weight of Useful Paramount Pictures and its parent company Gulf&Western—had Gulf&Western—had dragged on for months.
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Don Vito in Hollywood 3. Regardless of having won an Academy Academy Award Award and starred star red in no fewer fewer than twen t wentyty-six six �lms, � lms, Brando Bra ndo would would have to screen-test screentest for the role.
It was with these daunting preexisting conditions in mind that director Coppola, who admitted to being “scared shitless” of Brando, now now found himself himsel f driving dr iving up to the t he privacy-conscious privacy-conscious actor’s home. The camou�aged entrance from the road, designed to deter overzealous fans, seemed almost symbolic of the torturous path toward production which lay ahead, and as the director arrived at Brando’s front door, one question loomed ever larger: how best to t o wra w rangle ngle a screen test out of the t he �lm � lm legend without w ithout induci nducing a temperamen temperamental tal explosio explosion? n? Having set up the �lming with Brando by telling him that he simply wanted to test equipment and “get a take” on the character of Don Vito, Vito, Coppola Coppola was granted g ranted an unexpected u nexpected gift gif t when the actor himself allowed as how a brief video in makeup would help allay his fears over his suitability for the role of an elder elderly ly Italian man. (In later years, Brando would claim he knew k new all along that he was auditioning. auditioni ng.)) But—and But—and it was a big but—a but—a test ostensibly made for Brando’s Brando’s own reassura reas surance nce or to checkSign theupmakeup ma keup hetitle envisioned to vote on this Useful useful for the role did not necessar necessarily ily resemble a screen testNotsuitable to win over studio executives already searching for reasons to summarily
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��� �����������
tis sues in his tissues h is mouth to achieve ach ieve the look look and sound he envisioned for Don Vito. Vito. Conceptua Conceptuali lizing zing the t he godfather as a “bulldog, “ bulldog,”” Brando used the tissues to accentuate both a thrusting jaw and a hoarse speaking voice capable of suggesting the effects of aging. Pulling back his long dark- blond blond hai hairr and applyin applying g shoe polish to dark darken en hi hiss hai and suggest a moustache, Brando began his metamorphosis into Don Vito Corleo Corleone. ne. Rolli Rolling ng back the collar of the white shirt shi rt Coppola had brought along (said Brando: “You know those guys, the collar is always bent”) and speaking in the gravelly register he felt accurate for a mobster he decided had been shot in the throat, the actor began to move around his home, adjusting his body language, �ngering props, and falling deeper into character. Coppola was hooked—or hooked—or perhaps more accurately—instantly accurately—instantly felt vindicated by hi hiss choice. Here, in the �esh, stood Don Vito Corleone, just jus t the director had visualized. Only bigger and better, already a recognizably ogni zably complex complex human being. When the completed test was replayed, even Brando himself, often his own harshest critic, was pleased with the results, feeling that he had successfully captured the look of the aging ma�oso— “mean-looking, but warm underneath.” Now Coppola had to con vince the Paramount studio executives Sign to acquiesce totitle his artistic up to vote on this Useful Not useful vision. With nary a hit to his credit—previous credit— previous directorial efforts Dementia Deme ntia 13, You’ ou’re re a Big Boy Now Now,, Finian’ Finian’ss Rainbow, and The Rain
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Don Vito in Hollywood
Stanley Jaffe and production chief Robert Evans, Coppola and the �lm’s producer, Al Ruddy (who came to call the test “the miracle on Mulholland”), cannily placed Brando’s test in the middle of others, thereby heightening its impact. Duly pleased as Evans and Jaffe were— were—Evans Evans reportedly asked, “He looks Italian—�ne. Italian—�ne. But who is he?”—it he?”—it was the reaction of the formidable Austrian bor n Gul Gulf&W f&Wester estern n cha chair irman man Charles Bluhdorn that assu assured red Brando’s casting. After sitting through the test, Bluhdorn bluntly barked: “Who “ Who are a re ve vatching? vatch ing? Who W ho is dis d is old gui g uinea?” nea?” When W hen told it was Brando, an amused and impressed Bluhdorn signed off on the casting. In Coppola’s slightly different yet equally compelling version of that same screening, Bluhdorn “backed away” when he saw it was Brando, but after watching the actor’s metamorphosis into Don Corleone, grunted “that’s amazing” and approved the casting. Brando in place, fu further rther casting casti ng continued, continued, and shooting shooting �nally � nally began on March Ma rch 8, 1971. 1971. Such was the anticipation ant icipation of Brando’ Bra ndo’ss performance for mance that in i n the blitz of publicity publicity undertaken before the �lm’ � lm’ March 1972 1972 release, Paramount heightened the stakes even further fur ther by purposely with w ithholding holding photographs of the actor in costume cost ume and makeup. The studio knew they had a sure�re object Sign up to vote on this of title audience Useful most Not useful interest on their hands: here was the world’s famous actor playing a murderous mobster already familiar to millions of readers
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it with a fervor that spoke of a desire to enter the very world of the Corleones—to Corleones— to become guests themselves at Connie Corleone’s wedding reception. Suddenly, mobsters or not, Italians were no longer caricatures worthy of derision. They were �gures �t for admiration. Within days of the �lm’s release, comedians, talk-show hosts, and even politicians were not just talking about the �lm—they �lm—they were imitating Brando. Jaws thrust forward, voices lowered to bullf bul lfrog rog regi register, ster, and incessa incessantly ntly repeati repeating ng the words “I’l “I’lll mak him an offer he can’t refuse” until it grew into an instantly recognizable catchphrase, citizens nationwide were already channeling their own version of Don Corleone. Poking fun out of both affection and approval, audiences surrendered to their own visceral reaction; here was a character they found frightening, admirable, and—dare and— dare they admit it—re�ective it—re�ective of their own innermost fears and desires. In the �gure of a Ma�a don, Italian- American Amer icanss had suddenly gone mainstream. With this one �lm, notions of ethnicity in America had been upended in rather spectacular fashion. Mobsters these characters may have been, but in their proud self-assertion, self-assertion, celebration of eth nicity, and love of family lay complex, readily identi�able Sign up to vote on this title human Useful icans useful not just Notwere beings. being s. For the very �rs �rstt ti time, me, Ital Italianian Amer Americans embracing their own story but telling it on their own terms. In I n the
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lay in his ability to celebrate the virtues of the Italian family while neverr losing sight of the tragedy neve tr agedy lying at the t he heart of The Godfather and America ali alike. ke. What Puzo P uzo and a nd screenwriter/ screenwriter/director Coppola delivered— bri brill lliant iantly—was ly—was nothing nothi ng less than th an a disqu d isquisit isition ion on the t he madness, glory, and failure of the American dream. In exploring that dream in distinctly Italian- American America n terms, term s, they succeeded s ucceeded delivering nothing less than the Italianization of American culture. Even to those who never particularly cared to be Italian. Especially cial ly to those who had never never cared to be Italian. Like me.
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