Italians, Stallions, and Corporate Lackeys

Summary

Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: Behind the Scenes of "The Godfather"

Episode: Italians, Stallions, and Corporate Lackeys
Release Date: April 2, 2025

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Introduction to "The Godfather" Legacy

In this episode of "Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli," hosted by iHeartPodcasts, Mark Seal and Nathan King delve deep into the tumultuous production history of Francis Ford Coppola's iconic film, "The Godfather." Drawing from Mark Seal's 2021 book of the same name, the hosts present a blend of new and archival interviews with key figures such as Coppola himself, Marlon Brando, James Caan, Robert Evans, and others. The episode meticulously unpacks the myriad challenges faced during the film's creation—from studio interference and mafia threats to internal cast dynamics and creative disputes.

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The Genesis of a Classic (02:01 - 05:10)

Mark Seal sets the stage by recounting a pivotal moment on March 17, 1971, when the Corleone family gathers for dinner with Francis Ford Coppola at Patsy's Restaurant. This setting, chosen for its authentic Italian-American ambiance, serves as the inaugural meeting for the film's new cast. Marlon Brando's entrance is particularly memorable:

Marlon Brando (02:43): "Was the first time everybody met everybody. And I'm watching, like, Sterling Hayden, Richard Conti, John Morley. These are the great actors. These guys, they were legends to me."

Brando arrives wearing an orange cashmere turtleneck, immediately commanding respect and admiration from the cast. His charismatic presence helps unify the team, laying the groundwork for the film's collaborative spirit.

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Creative Vision and Production Meetings (05:26 - 13:54)

The hosts explore the foundational creative production meeting held on January 25, 1971, where Coppola, production designer Dean Tavoularis, cinematographer Gordon Willis, and costume designer Anna Hill Johnstone converge to establish the film's visual and narrative style. Marlon Brando emphasizes the film's humanistic portrayal of the mafia:

Marlon Brando (08:16): "Show them as human, see the human side, the family side of their lives. The ironic thing of them loving their children, et cetera, and then turning around and committing terrible crimes, brutal murders."

A recurring theme from the meeting is the operatic quality of the film, characterized by fixed camera techniques and meticulous attention to detail. Topics ranged from location selections to costume designs, with Coppola insisting on authenticity over formality, particularly evident in the wedding scene's naturalistic portrayal.

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On-Set Camaraderie and Behind-the-Scenes Turmoil (17:25 - 32:09)

The camaraderie among the cast is highlighted through anecdotes of playful pranks, such as the first day Brando encouraged James Caan and Robert Duvall to moon him, setting a tone of relaxed collaboration:

Robert Duvall (18:40): "The thing."

However, behind the scenes, Coppola contends with intense studio interference. Robert Evans, representing Paramount Pictures, inundates Coppola with critical memos, questioning casting decisions and script elements mere weeks before filming begins. A particularly scathing memo from Evans (19:58) criticizes the portrayal of Sonny Corleone, expressing concerns over the character's flamboyance and iconic scenes from Mario Puzo's novel.

Amidst this turmoil, Coppola's living conditions deteriorate as he juggles constant threats of termination and maintains his creative vision. The tension culminates in a power struggle orchestrated by Paramount's Jack Ballard, aiming to replace Coppola with editor Aram Avakian. Coppola's decisive action to fire the mutinous crew members signifies his unwavering commitment to the project's success.

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Filming Milestones and Iconic Scenes (36:40 - 44:55)

The episode delves into the meticulous crafting of some of the film's most memorable scenes. For instance, the baptism sequence intertwines personal and criminal narratives, symbolizing the Corleone family's duality. Al Pacino's transformation during the restaurant assassination scene exemplifies his growth into Michael Corleone, bolstered by Coppola's encouragement amid his own insecurities and initial lackluster studio reception.

A particularly fascinating insight is shared by screenwriter Robert Towne regarding the creation of the succession scene, which was not present in Puzo's original novel. Towne recounts an intense, overnight writing session inspired by the novel's themes:

Marlon Brando (43:37): "I remember looking at the book cover and thinking, that's a possibility."

This scene, pivotal to the film's narrative, underscores the transfer of power within the Corleone family and solidifies Coppola's vision of a complex, multifaceted mafia saga.

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Challenges and Triumphs on Set (24:05 - 41:33)

The production faces numerous setbacks, including Al Pacino's ankle injury during the restaurant scene and a delayed arrival by Marlon Brando, who misses his initial flight to New York. Despite these obstacles, Brando's eventual performance, marked by his iconic soft-spoken demeanor and impassioned delivery, reinvigorates the cast and crew.

The acquisition of authentic props, such as the infamous horse's head in Jack Waltz's bed, exemplifies the lengths to which the production team went to achieve realism. Screenwriter Robert Towne details the ethical and logistical challenges of securing the prop without compromising animal rights:

Robert Towne (40:00): "We went to one of those companies, and they, of course, had a whole bunch of horses... We asked the pet food company to not kill that horse until we said, okay, it's time to do that."

This pragmatic yet controversial decision underscores the film's commitment to gritty authenticity, contributing to its enduring legacy.

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Final Reflections and Legacy (44:55 - 45:47)

As filming progresses, Coppola's ability to navigate internal conflicts and external pressures culminates in the creation of a masterpiece that transcends its tumultuous production. The episode concludes with reflections on the film's impact and the collaborative efforts that brought "The Godfather" to life, honoring the dedication and resilience of everyone involved.

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Conclusion

"Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli" offers an exhaustive and engaging exploration of the behind-the-scenes battles and creative triumphs that defined the making of "The Godfather." Through firsthand accounts and detailed analyses, Mark Seal and Nathan King illuminate how Coppola's unwavering vision and the cast's camaraderie overcame formidable challenges, resulting in one of cinema's greatest masterpieces.

For those fascinated by film history, mafia lore, or the intricate dynamics of movie production, this episode provides a comprehensive and captivating narrative that enriches the legendary status of "The Godfather."

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Notable Quotes:

• Marlon Brando (02:43): "Was the first time everybody met everybody. And I'm watching, like, Sterling Hayden, Richard Conti, John Morley. These are the great actors. These guys, they were legends to me."

• Marlon Brando (08:16): "Show them as human, see the human side, the family side of their lives. The ironic thing of them loving their children, et cetera, and then turning around and committing terrible crimes, brutal murders."

• Robert Evans (19:58): "Feel that the character of Sonny is not nearly as flamboyant and exciting as in the book. The sexuality that everyone remembers is totally missing in the script."

• Marlon Brando (43:37): "I remember looking at the book cover and thinking, that's a possibility."

• Robert Towne (40:00): "We went to one of those companies, and they, of course, had a whole bunch of horses... We asked the pet food company to not kill that horse until we said, okay, it's time to do that."

---

Credits:

Produced by Tina Mullen with research assistance by Jack Sullivan. Development Producer Jonathan Dressler and Music Supervisor Randall Poster contributed to the episode. Executive producers include Nathan King, Mark Seal, Dylan Fagan, and Graydon Carter. Special thanks to Bridget Arceneaux and everyone at CDM Studios.

For more information, refer to Mark Seal's book, Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster.

Transcript

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[Mark Seal]

It's March 17, 1971, St. Patrick's Day. The Corleone family is sitting down to dinner with the man who brought them all together, Francis Ford Coppola. Earlier that day, every member of the newly minted cast received their first call sheet. 3:30pm Patsy's Restaurant, 117th street and First Avenue. Coppola's idea was to have everyone sit down to dinner, Italian family style, and Patsy's was perfect. It was a known hangout for gangsters and made men. When Gianni Russo, who'd landed the role of Carlo, reports for his first day on the set, he feels right at home.

[Marlon Brando]

So I go up a little early because I see old guys, I know everybody, they're all hugging and kissing. I go around the corner, see the hat people I had pay my respects to, and they said, we're so happy for you. You know, it's like, that's so crazy.

[Mark Seal]

Gianni walks into the back room where the cast is gathering.

[Marlon Brando]

Was the first time everybody met everybody. And I'm watching, like, Sterling Hayden, Richard Conti, John Morley. These are the great actors. These guys, they were legends to me.

[Mark Seal]

Marlon Brando arrives wearing an orange cashmere turtleneck sweater. Producer Al Ruddy described it as Christ coming down from the cross. The room falls silent. Then the world's greatest living actor cracks a joke. From that moment forward, the cast doesn't just respect Marlon Brando, they love him.

[Marlon Brando]

Here comes Brando. He's like, God. And I watched every Brando movie, man.

[Mark Seal]

As everyone stands around not sure what to do with themselves, Marlon opens a bottle of wine. He takes his seat, and the rest of the cast follows suit. Robert Duvall remembers how easy it was to look to Brando as a father figure.

[Marlon Brando]

And we all sat around as if we were kind of approximating the family situation around Brando. And he was. When we were young, Brando was like.

[Nathan King]

The godfather of actors to us, really.

[Marlon Brando]

We all respected him.

[Mark Seal]

Coppola looks at his newly minted cast, the family he had fought so hard for. Brando at the head of the table, James Kahn on his left, Al Pacino on his right. For the first time, Coppola can feel the production coming together just as he had envisioned it. I'm Mark Seale.

[Nathan King]

And I'm Nathan King.

[Mark Seal]

And this is Leave the Gun. Take the cannoli.

[Nathan King]

In today's episode, we shoot our first frame of what turns into 90 hours of film.

[Mark Seal]

We'll detail the day to day life on the set, including cast pranks and crew turmoil.

[Nathan King]

Mark. I'm always amazed that amid Coppola's constant power struggle with executives, he was able to play the part of a strong leader with his cast.

[Mark Seal]

Yes, that's right. He was a great compartmentalizer. The sky is falling. People are threatening to fire him. But he has a job to do, and he gets it done.

[Nathan King]

So let's back up. The cast meeting wasn't really the first step in filming, which is what we're getting into in today's episode.

[Mark Seal]

No, I'd say it was the creative production meeting that Started it all. Which Coppola had called for a few months earlier.

[Nathan King]

January 25, 1971.

[Mark Seal]

That's right. He invited the production team together to establish the visual style of the film. I first heard about this meeting from Dean Tavoularis, the film's production designer.

[Marlon Brando]

That two, three hour meeting cemented the the look of the film.

[Mark Seal]

And I emailed Francis Coppola about the meeting, just asking if he could tell me more about it. And he said, I'll do one better. I'll send you the transcript from the meeting, which was incredible because you can really see the workings of a film in progress and the vision he had for so many things in the movie that actually came to pass.

[Marlon Brando]

And he had a. Didn't record it. He had a stenographer, a court stenographer with a little type machine that a court stenographer has.

[Nathan King]

And this is the transcript right here. This is massive.

[Mark Seal]

That's right. It's 84 single spaced pages written on what seems to be a manual typewriter.

[Nathan King]

So tell me about this meeting, Mark. We've got Coppola Tavoullaris, a court stenographer. Who else is there?

[Mark Seal]

Well, it's Gordon Willis, cinematographer, and the great Anna Hill Johnstone.

[Nathan King]

Tell me about Gordon Willis. He was a bit of a legend, right?

[Mark Seal]

He sure was. Gordon Willis was an esteemed cinematographer. People called him the Prince of Darkness. He liked shooting his shadows.

[Nathan King]

Gordon and Francis had a bit of animosity between them, didn't they?

[Mark Seal]

Well, they would later, but at this meeting they were very much on the same page.

[Nathan King]

Okay, what about Dean Tavoularis?

[Mark Seal]

Tavoularis is great. He's a longtime production designer, artistic designer and artist himself. I got to know Dean quite a bit and I was able to even visit him in Paris not too long ago. And he found so many of the classic locations in the Godfather. As he told me for the book, he spent a lot of time looking for places to kill people. And. And then we have costume designer Anna Hill Johnstone, who got her start on Broadway and made a name for herself on movies like on the Waterfront and east of Eden.

[Nathan King]

Coppola is the youngest in the group, right?

[Mark Seal]

And at least for now, he's the group's undisputed leader.

[Nathan King]

Okay, let's crack this transcript open. How does the meeting start?

[Mark Seal]

Well, at first, Coppola sets his intentions. He wants to have a freewheeling discussion and take the script scene by scene. He had his vision for the film. He did not want to make a traditional gangster movie. Here's Dean Tavoularis again, he wanted to.

[Marlon Brando]

Show them as human, see the human side, the family side of their lives. The ironic thing of them loving their children, et cetera, and then turning around and committing terrible crimes, brutal murders.

[Nathan King]

And what about the look of the film?

[Mark Seal]

Well, in the production meeting transcript, you know, they go back and forth and one word kept jumping out. And that was operatic. Both Tavoularis and Coppola seemed to use that word a lot.

[Marlon Brando]

This dark, operatic image where the camera is fixed and things come into the frame and things leave the frame, but the camera doesn't cut that much. It doesn't pan that much.

[Nathan King]

You can really see that fixed camera technique in the film. So tell us a little bit more about the production meeting, because they go over a lot. They talk about every detail of the wedding from the wine that's gonna be served to the waitstaff. They talk about costumes at length. Take us through some of what they go over.

[Mark Seal]

Yeah, it's pretty amazing because so many things, so many of the classic scenes that you remember from the movie were first outlined in this production meeting. They talk about the bridge. Which bridge should we use? Where Michael's going to meet Sollozzo and the corrupt police captain. You know, where the Don is hospitalized after getting shot. Which hospital should we use? Even the wedding, of course, was a major that Coppola talked about quite a bit. He wanted the wedding to be like the weddings that he had gone to in his youth or, you know, that he was going to even now, at the time when he was still a young man, of course, where everybody's talking all at once. Johnstone would say, do you think 10 waiters would be enough for the wedding? And Coppola said, no, we're not gonna. There's no waiters at an Italian American wedding. They didn't have that. The women would do it. The sandwiches would be ordered from a place on ninth Avenue and people would bring in their own food. Everything was done home and natural. And so that was the key to this incredible scene.

[Nathan King]

He was adamant in the meeting that they not over formalize it. He said the only people in formal attire would be the wedding party and that kids would wear their confirmation clothes and everyone else would wear their Sunday dresses and outfits. But it wouldn't be too buttoned up.

[Mark Seal]

Yeah, he said he's gonna try to make the wedding an experience instead of a scene, take the dialogue out of it and immerse the audience with hundreds and hundreds of details.

[Nathan King]

They also talk a lot about how the wedding will be juxtaposed with the setting inside the house, in the Don's office.

[Mark Seal]

So here's where the Prince of Darkness comes in. The cinematographer, Gordon Willis, he uses the shadows to show the darkness of the Don's office as juxtaposed against the bright lights in the sunny scene of the wedding where Johnny Fontaine comes in and sings a song and everybody's happy and dancing.

[Nathan King]

It's amazing how granular they get. At one point in the meeting, they're talking about Tom Hagen's flight to Los Angeles and the type of airplane he would fly on, and they decide it's going to be a 1946 Lockheed Constellation, because that's the type of airplane that would make that Trans American flight. In those days, in the late 40s.

[Mark Seal]

They debate the pros and cons of that plane, you know, and that plane is only on the screen for a second. You know, it lands, and then you see Tom walking into the Walt Studio. So there's a million little details in this film that they discuss in this production meeting. And I think that's where the magic of this film was born, obviously in the script as well. But once the script was done, then they had to hammer out all these other details that were in this meeting.

[Nathan King]

One of the most visually lush parts of the film is Jack Waltz's house in Beverly Hills. What did they say about that in the meeting?

[Mark Seal]

Coppola says this in the meeting. You know, I like the idea of Tom with a big shot where you can't even sit down with him. You have to catch him between other things. Talk to me while I'm walking and talking, kind of thing. That really puts Tom in second place.

[Nathan King]

They go into great detail about the fake blood with corn syrup to give it the right viscosity.

[Mark Seal]

Coppola said, blood never looks right to me in a movie, you know, and he wanted this blood to look real. And Coppola said in the meeting, why don't we use real blood? 20 gallons of animal blood. Any butcher can give you some blood. And Tavou points out real blood coagulates, so you can't use real blood. They had to mix their own blood.

[Nathan King]

It's funny because reading the transcript, you get a sense of harmony and that they're all excited about working together and they share a lot of the same ideas or could come to agree on a lot of these things, but it doesn't betray what's going to come.

[Mark Seal]

Yeah, they're all on the same page, and you can see the back and forth. It goes on for some time. I mean, they only get halfway through the script and then Coppola calls it a night and says we'll get together again. And then there's no more transcript. This is the only one that exists.

[Nathan King]

Do you think they ever got together again?

[Mark Seal]

I don't think so or they would have a transcript of it. So this is the only kind of window you have as far as some of these artistic and creative decisions were made.

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[Nathan King]

Mark, you write about the filming process with such detail in your book. You have scenes pinned down to the day of shooting. What was your research process like?

[Mark Seal]

Well, luck counts for a lot of it. And I was very lucky that we have a day to day accounting of filming from none other than Coppola's then assistant, Ira Zuckerman. He wrote the Godfather Journal, which is a short but very detailed accounting of the shooting of the film.

[Nathan King]

Well, let's get into it. For starters, we know that the cast of the Godfather had a lot of fun on set.

[Mark Seal]

Yeah, they sure did. And it started right away. James Caan told me a great story about riding home from that first cast dinner at Patsy's with Robert Duvall, when suddenly Brando's car pulls up to them.

[Marlon Brando]

So we're coming back down second Avenue, and Brando was in the backseat of a station wagon, and he goes, come on, moon him. We're going down second Avenue. I go, are you crazy? I don't do that. You're the king of that. He said, I can't. I'm in a bad spot. You know, Da, da, da, da, da. He's.

[Mark Seal]

Come on now.

[Marlon Brando]

He started with, you got.

[Mark Seal]

You got to do this.

[Marlon Brando]

It'll be funny. So I pull up next to Brando, I roll my window down. I just stick my ass out.

[Robert Towne]

The thing.

[Marlon Brando]

This is the first day he's met us. He just. Just started falling down and we went away, you know, crying, laughing, you know. So that was the first moon of my life.

[Mark Seal]

Yeah. And that first moon really set the tone for the shooting. The cast was constantly pulling pranks on each other. And this really made everyone feel comfortable from the start. Have you ever mooned anybody?

[Nathan King]

Probably when I was a kid, yeah. Not a long time. And did that culture of camaraderie last?

[Mark Seal]

It seems like it did. With the cast for sure. With the crew? Well, not so much. There was a lot of turmoil behind the scenes.

[Nathan King]

Coppola has repeatedly called the Godfather the most miserable time in his life. Was it just the micromanaging?

[Mark Seal]

It was micromanaging to an extreme degree. Robert Evans was trying to control Coppola's moves from across the country. Just weeks before filming starts. Copper finalizing locations, meeting with his creative team, making last minute script revisions, coordinating lighting and makeup tests. And Robert Evans is sending him these memos, just picking apart every decision he makes. Nathan, maybe you can read this particularly scathing memo sent on March 5, just 18 days before filming is set to begin.

[Nathan King]

Sure, I can do that. Evans said, quote, feel that the character of Sonny is not nearly as flamboyant and exciting as in the book. The sexuality that everyone remembers is totally missing in the script. I think that the size of his cock and the horse's head are the two most remembered scenes from the book. And the former is so lacking that I think we would be criticized for not doing more with Sonny.

[Mark Seal]

Yes. And this goes on and on. A few more excerpts. Who's going to play Mama Corleone? Fredo's casting. I'm not sure I'm satisfied. Are you sure the picture can be cut with a straightforward story? If you decide not to go with Flash forwards.

[Nathan King]

And Coppola is still living in an apartment with his entire family at this point, right?

[Mark Seal]

Yes. And apparently it's being painted, so it reeks of paint fumes. He described that time as going to war every morning. And once again, it's a miracle that this movie got made.

[Nathan King]

But somehow fit. Filming begins on March 23, 1971. What was the first scene, Mark?

[Mark Seal]

The first scene. Christmas in Springtime at Best & Co. The department store on Fifth Avenue. The store had conveniently shuttered the year before, and so it had been restored to its 1940s glory for filming and in keeping with his ability to make miracles happen, the amazing Al Ruddy makes it snow.

[Nathan King]

He's fresh off of being fired and rehired by Charlie Bludorn, right?

[Mark Seal]

Yes, but that doesn't stop Al Ruddy. He brings in snow machines. And when the temperatures rise too high for them to work, he turns to Plan B, synthetic snow and wind machines to create the magical scene of Kay and Michael walking out of the store amid a swirl of fake snow. And then the crew moves through the city, landing at Radio City, moving where Michael and Kay are leaving a movie and about to find out the terrible news.

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[Mark Seal]

Now, that's a thought.

[Marlon Brando]

Michael. No, I would not like you better.

[Mark Seal]

If you were Ingrid Bergman. And these scenes are all coming together to create the iconic montage that ends with the attempt on the Don's life.

[Nathan King]

It seems like this first day should be a triumph. But Coppola doesn't feel that way, does he?

[Mark Seal]

No, unfortunately. All anyone can seem to see is Coppola's shortcomings. And it really is getting to him. He's having nightmares about being fired and he's getting more and more paranoid.

[Nathan King]

Do you think that paranoia is justified?

[Mark Seal]

I really do. The studio essentially sent a spy to keep watch over him. A Paramount Finance guy named Jack Ballard. Here's how Gray Frederickson remembers Jack.

[Marlon Brando]

He was like a hero. A shaved head, tough, rough speaking, kind of a staff sergeant kind of guy. Scared everybody.

[Nathan King]

He sounds like a cartoon villain.

[Mark Seal]

Well, you know, I wasn't able to talk to Jack Ballard. He had passed away years before. But Decapola he was. And here's what he had to say about Jack Ballard.

[Robert Towne]

Jack Ballard was hired basically by Robert Evans to be there on the set and to haunt me and to constantly be challenging my decisions and telling me what I could do or not do. And he was the enforcer, as it were, for Paramount. And he was. He knew about classical film production, but he had no idea of what I was trying to do.

[Mark Seal]

So as Ira Zuckerman wrote in his book, Ballard's task was to keep an eye on the day to day production, planning, scheduling and shooting and to immediately advise Paramount on any budget overruns.

[Nathan King]

Even with Jack Bauer reporting back to Evans every day, shooting must go on. Let's transition to the restaurant shooting scene if we can. This is really a turning point for Michael as he goes from college boy to his father's successor. And it's also a turning point for Al Pacino, isn't it?

[Mark Seal]

Oh, my gosh. That's right. I mean, the restaurant scene, it's so much going on. It's a turning point both in the movie and it's a turning point for Al Pacino in real life on the set because he's really struggling with his confidence. Like Coppola, he thinks he's on the verge of being fired. He later said they only hired him because they liked his performance in the Panic of Needle park, which hadn't yet been released. But so far, the Paramount execs don't like what they're seeing.

[Nathan King]

So what changed?

[Mark Seal]

Well, Coppola really encouraged him. And when the time came, Pacino steps up to the plate and hits a home run.

[Marlon Brando]

What I want, what's most important to me is that I have a guarantee. No more attempts on my father's life.

[Nathan King]

It really is a magical scene.

[Marlon Brando]

I have to go to the bathroom. Is it all right?

[Mark Seal]

Not only is Al Pacino's performance incredible but the visual and the sonic elements all come together so perfectly. You know, a huge amount of preparation went into this scene. Here's Coppola in that interview about his prompt book. Scene 26, Michael picked up by Sollozzo and the killing, parenthesis key scene, the core, to show the killing as terrifying and explicitly as possible. Having taken the tension to an unbearable degree. To further define Michael's character in regards to his cool, totally calm execution of these men.

[Nathan King]

But even that scene wasn't immune to the disasters that seemed to follow filming. Ira Zuckerman writes that just as Al Pacino is leaving the restaurant to jump onto the getaway car he leaps onto the side of the car and injures his ankle.

[Mark Seal]

He's rushed to the emergency room and he'd later say, I thought it was a sign from God that now was injured and they would have to release me.

[Nathan King]

It feels symbolic that right when things start going well, they shoot this iconic scene and disaster strikes again.

[Mark Seal]

Absolutely. Like in the movies, as they say, it's gotta be one thing after another. Pacino has a sprained ligament, but the show's gotta go on. Brando is due on the set the next morning for his first scene as the Don. And the execs at Paramount are anxious to see if the fading star can deliver.

[Nathan King]

Does Coppola feel responsible for him because he pushed so hard to have him as Don Corleone?

[Mark Seal]

Oh, yeah, I'm sure he did. He's truly under a microscope and he really needs Brando to come through and deliver an amazing performance.

[Nathan King]

So what happens?

[Mark Seal]

Well, Brando's flight from La Lands in New York City at 6am and Brando's not on it. He missed his flight and Coppola's fuming.

[Nathan King]

But Brando eventually makes it to set, and when he does, how does his first scene go?

[Mark Seal]

Well, it went pretty well because all he has to do is lay in a hospital bed. But apparently it was great for morale. The cast, crew, and even the staff at the hospital were so excited to have the greatest living actor among them.

[Nathan King]

Well, that excitement follows the film all the way to Little Italy, right?

[Mark Seal]

It sure does. Pretty soon the crew descends into the center of Italian American culture in New York City. And the word is out, the Godfather's in the neighborhood. Nicholas Pileggi was a reporter back then, and he was working on a story about the movie for the New York Times Magazine. He was the only reporter allowed on the set. And here's how he described the scene.

[Marlon Brando]

There was security at both ends of the block. They stopped traffic. You know, it's a very close neighborhood. These are five and six story tenements. And everybody has been living in those tenements for the last 30 years. And most of their parents lived in those tenements back in 1910. They know the world and they know the wise guys and the monsters. I mean, they were all. They were all still there and including Carlo Gambino.

[Nathan King]

So he mentions Carlo Gambino were mobsters on set.

[Mark Seal]

Apparently, yes. They were shooting the scene where the don is shot by the fruit stand and Fredo's fumbling with the gun and a crowd of locals form with so called wise guys peppered through the crowd.

[Nathan King]

And Marlon Brando knows he's playing to an audience. He sort of hams it up.

[Marlon Brando]

So when the shock is done and they say cut and he starts to get up, he hears this roar of applause. It must have reminded him of when he was in the theater. It was such a moving thing to me. And when he stands up, he bows, just like a theater.

[Mark Seal]

Afterward, every time Coppola would yell cut, Brando would hearken back to his theater days, take off his hat, and take a deep bow before the crowd, which would obviously roar with applause.

[Nathan King]

What about Gambino?

[Mark Seal]

Well, according to Nicholas Peleggi, Gambino came to the neighborhood on the day of shooting and held court at a coffee shop nearby. Can you believe it? I mean, Gambino, this is really fact meeting fiction.

[Nathan King]

Don Corleone is at least partially based on Carlo Gambino, right? So it's sort of amazing that he found his way to the neighborhood on the day of shooting.

[Mark Seal]

Well, I don't think it's a coincidence. Nick said that after conducting his business, he popped around the corner and watched a bit of the shooting.

[Marlon Brando]

No real Godfather watched a Godfather.

[Nathan King]

So do things ever turn around for Coppola? At some point, even Jack Ballard has to admit they're seeing a real masterpiece unfold.

[Mark Seal]

Well, I'm not sure Jack Ballard ever comes around. In fact, a month into shooting, things are more tense than ever.

[Nathan King]

What's going on?

[Mark Seal]

Well, Coppola is running further and further behind schedule. And according to Grae Fredrickson, he's under siege.

[Marlon Brando]

He was consumed with taking us down, getting Francis out of there, and saving the picture.

[Mark Seal]

Gray apparently would hear Jack on the phone with Evans reporting every time shooting went long or went over budget. And it always is in Hollywood.

[Nathan King]

And there was particular contention with the scene of the Don in his office.

[Mark Seal]

Yes, apparently there was $100,000 spent on that office set in the Don's office. And when the execs saw the dailies, they did not like what they saw.

[Marlon Brando]

Gordon Lewis shot everything so dark. They were used to Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Big, bright Technicolor movies. And all of a sudden they had this sort of sepia gold look. Dark, gloomy. And they couldn't even see the set that they spent so much money on or the ten thousand dollar desk. Plus, Brando picked up a cat.

[Nathan King]

The cat, of course, is iconic now. Don Corleone pets him throughout the opening scene, but that was a total accident. It was a stray cat that wandered onto the soundstage. And apparently when Marlon Brando picked up the cat, it was purring right into his microphone, which only made things worse.

[Marlon Brando]

So the cat was purring into the mic he was speaking, and it was his first date, and he had that depressed, so he couldn't speak very clearly. So he was bumbling with a cat purring on a scene it was so dark that no one could see. And they said, we're finished. This is over. The movie's not gonna work. You gotta get rid of those guys. It's a disaster.

[Nathan King]

The most memorable things about that scene are the darkness, Brando's voice and the cat. But it seems like those were the things the executives thought would be the movie's downfall.

[Mark Seal]

Yeah, the studio just didn't see Coppola's vision. In fact, there was believed to be an effort between Jack Ballard and Coppola's assistant director, Steve Keston, to have Coppola fired and replaced with the editor, Aram Abakian, who, by the way, Coppola had actually hired for the movie.

[Nathan King]

Do you think any of this was justified?

[Mark Seal]

Well, you know, Coppola was having arguments with his cinematographer Gordon Willis, and apparently in the beginning it was really very tough to understand Brando's mumbling. But of course, Francis insisted he needed more time.

[Nathan King]

Does he know about the plot against him?

[Mark Seal]

Word travels really fast on a movie set, right? Especially bad news. Coughlin decided to strike first and fire six of the conspirators at once.

[Marlon Brando]

The assistant director Steve Keston, and supervisor Aram and his crew. Francis fired the ball.

[Nathan King]

And how does Robert Evans respond to all of this?

[Mark Seal]

Robert Evans claimed that he had no idea about the mutiny on the set. He claimed instead that he spent an entire weekend editing together the scene of Michael shooting Sollozzo and McCluskey in the restaurant.

[Marlon Brando]

And upon seeing edited together, I realized that I was dealing with a brain.

[Nathan King]

So conveniently, once Evans is behind the editing, it's coming together brilliantly.

[Mark Seal]

Well, of course.

[Nathan King]

So with Evans suddenly behind him, do things turn around for Coppola?

[Mark Seal]

Well, he does have a brief moment of glory. Charlie Bludorn takes him and his father to the Palm, his favorite restaurant in New York. They order steak and they order lobster. And according to Coppola, at least they're best friends from this point forward.

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[Mark Seal]

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[Marlon Brando]

Void where prohibited by law 21 +.

[Nathan King]

Terms and conditions apply so Coppola's riding high. What's next on the shooting schedule?

[Mark Seal]

Another killing. Of course, this time the victim is that cutthroat Polly Gatto. Polly Gatto picks up Clemenza at his home and they're supposedly going shopping for mattresses for the war that's about to begin. And Clemenza's wife yells from the stoop, don't forget the cannoli. And they drive out to what turns out to be a desolate road in the middle of nowhere with the Statue of Liberty looming in the background. The Statue of Liberties. Back to the scene that's about to unfold. Clemenza gets out of the car to take a leak. Polygato is shot from behind, slumped over the steering wheel. Clemenza Zips up his pants, comes over to the car and tells the driver, leave the gun, take the cannoli.

[Nathan King]

Do you think they knew that the scene was going to play so well when they filmed it?

[Mark Seal]

Well, I think they knew it was going to turn out to be a great scene, but they didn't know about that line, leave the gun, take the cannoli. Which turned out to be one of the great lines in the film. Totally ad libbed by Richard Castellano as Clemenza. So it turned out to be a lot more than they expected, I'm sure.

[Nathan King]

And then we move on to the wedding mark. The wedding scene was always more than a wedding, right?

[Mark Seal]

Well, the wedding scene that opened the movie would show all the themes that Coppola wanted to explore in the movie. It would set the stage for all the things that were coming. It would show that the mob was more than brute force and bloody fights. It would show that its fathers and sons and aunts and uncles and cousins. It would show that the mob is made up of families. And what could be more family than an Italian American wedding.

[Nathan King]

And let's talk about the location, because there was some trouble locking down the Staten island compound.

[Mark Seal]

Yes, there was, as always, trouble. It was actually a few houses adjacent to each other to give the look of a compound. And one of the homeowners was holding out. According to Al Ruddy, they had to call in a favor from the production's new guardian angel, Joe Colombo.

[Marlon Brando]

And the guy said, Look, Mr. Ruddy, you don't understand.

[Mark Seal]

I worked my whole life and I've.

[Marlon Brando]

Saved my whole life after buying this house.

[Mark Seal]

And I don't like what you want to do with my home.

[Marlon Brando]

Cause I want the home of a gangster. So I looked at Joan.

[Mark Seal]

Joan says, give me the fountain pen sign.

[Marlon Brando]

The fucking Joe says, it's good for our people.

[Mark Seal]

As he said, it's good for our people. 80 deer, are you kidding? The pen almost went through the paper.

[Nathan King]

And of course, the wedding scene gives us Johnny Fontaine crying to the Godfather and the iconic slap, which takes us.

[Mark Seal]

To the classic scene of the producer, Jack Waltz waking up to find a horse's head in his bed.

[Nathan King]

And Coppola gave us some insight into his thinking on acquiring the horse's head.

[Robert Towne]

Personally, I would not kill any living creature for a movie. It's not in my philosophy or my personal conviction. I don't believe movies are something that any. Any creature, even a fly should be hurt in order to do was very controversial.

[Mark Seal]

But they came up with a really creative plan to acquire this horse's head, which had to be fresh.

[Robert Towne]

Yes, that was a real horse's head. But the way we did it is we went to a dog food company. All the animal lovers who feed their little dogs and cats pet food after, maybe they don't realize it, but the pet food is very often made from horse meat because when the horses are killed, they go as the main ingredient in pet food. So we went to one of those companies, and they, of course, had a whole bunch of horses. And. And we chose a horse that looked like the real horse in the movie, was the same coloring, and. And it had a unique marking. So we chose the horse to be like the horse that was in the pet food company. We asked the pet food company to not kill that horse until we said, okay, it's time to do that. And then we wanted the head.

[Nathan King]

I don't even know what to say about this. It's such an outrageous thing. Mark, do you think that they would have done something like this today?

[Mark Seal]

Well, I don't know if people today would be that adamant to find a real horse's head, maybe they would be able to do it with animatronics or something like that. I mean, would you really have to go and find a real horse's head to put in the bed? I think you could find a lot of ways to do it today, but you can't deny that it was one of the most effective and bloody scenes in the movie.

[Nathan King]

Truly. So Coppola finally quells the mutiny, but things aren't going much better for him, right?

[Mark Seal]

Not at all. Jack Ballard's still breathing down his neck, and now Coppola and his cinematographer, Gordon Willis, are going at it.

[Nathan King]

And the root of their disagreements comes from the fact that Coppola wanted to work too quickly for Willis.

[Mark Seal]

Well, Coppola and Willis drove each other crazy. One day Coppola wants to go handheld, the next, he wants the 1000 millimeter lens. So they went back and forth on a lot of things.

[Nathan King]

And amid the turmoil, Coppola's wife, Eleanor has a baby.

[Mark Seal]

Right. Right in the middle of filming, Sofia Coppola is born. She would, of course, later become a director, but first she would become an actress. And her first role as an infant is in the Godfather.

[Nathan King]

At just three weeks old, Sofia Coppola appears in the baptism scene in St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, playing the son of Connie and Carlo Rizzi, a huge talent from day one. Let's move on to the succession scene, because there's quite a story here.

[Mark Seal]

Yes, and the succession Scene wasn't even written yet. There's no succession scene in Mario Puzo's book. But Coppola thought it would be a really important thing to show the transfer of power.

[Nathan King]

Why did they have such difficulty with this scene?

[Mark Seal]

Coppola felt he needed some help. I mean, he's directing this movie. There are a thousand things happening. And he wisely tapped Robert Towne, who was one of the great legendary screenwriters of Hollywood. He was still a young man at that point and still early in his career. And so Robert Towne told me for the book that he gets a call in his house one day in la, and Coppola's on the phone asking him to come to New York to write this scene. Takes his typewriter, flies to New York, stays in Buck Henry's apartment, and here's how Robert Towne remembers it as it happened.

[Marlon Brando]

I had one night to write the scene, and I had no idea what to do. But I remember looking. Do you remember the book, the Godfather, the COVID of it?

[Mark Seal]

Yeah, of course. And he stays up all night, and he's looking at the COVID of the novel, and he sees those puppet strings, you know, dangling down on the novel's cover.

[Marlon Brando]

I remember looking at the book cover and thinking, that's. That's a possibility.

[Mark Seal]

All of a sudden, maybe it 4am or whatever, these words come to him.

[Marlon Brando]

I worked my whole life. I don't apologize, to take care of my family. And I refused to be a fool dancing on the string held by all those big shots.

[Mark Seal]

Coppola picks up Town at Buck Henry's apartment really early the next morning.

[Marlon Brando]

He didn't say much, and I didn't say anything. And Francis, finally, about halfway there, said, any luck? And I said, well, I think so. I gave him the script, and he read it, said he liked it.

[Mark Seal]

Coplin nods, and he says, you show it to Marlon. And Robert Town went, what you mean I have to present this to Marlon Brando? And he said, yeah, yeah, show it to Marlon. Takes it to Marlon on the set. Apparently, he loved it, as everyone else did. It's one of the great scenes in American cinema history.

[Marlon Brando]

At the end of the day shooting, Marlon turned to me and said, who the fuck are you? And I said, yeah, I'm nobody, really. I thought that when it was your time, that the Jew would be the one to hold the strings. Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone, something. We'll get there, pop. We'll get there.

[Mark Seal]

So great that when Coppola won the Oscar for screenwriting, he thanked Robert Towne for this scene. And the interesting thing is the scene was written on cue cards for Brando, as were many other scenes. And you could see them holding up the cue cards for this scene in some of the classic pictures from the shooting of the movie.

[Nathan King]

Because at this point in his career, he had trouble memorizing his lines, Right?

[Mark Seal]

Right. So he had cue cards for a lot of these things, including this succession.

[Nathan King]

SC let's fast forward to June 28, 1971. It's the 66th day of filming in New York, and Coppola is about to shoot a love scene at the St. Regis Hotel.

[Mark Seal]

Yes, and just a few blocks away in Columbus Circle, the Italian American Civil Rights League is hosting its second annual Unity Day. The lineup includes B.B. king, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Sammy Davis Jr. And of course, the headliner, Joe Colombo.

[Nathan King]

And Al Ruddy had planned to attend, right?

[Mark Seal]

Yes. But the night before the rally, he received a call.

[Marlon Brando]

I was supposed to been on the dais sitting next to Joe Colombo when he was shot. Okay. And I was told not to be there that day. Not ask me not to be there. Under no circumstances you'd be in Columbus Circle tomorrow standing next to Joe Colombia. And the phone goes click dead.

[Mark Seal]

No one from the movie attended the rally, and it's probably best that they did not, because at 11:45am Joe Colombo is walking through the crowd when he's approached by a man who appears to be a press photographer. The man crouches down, but he's not pointing a camera anymore. Instead, he points a pistol at Columbo and fires three times. In the St. Regis Hotel a few blocks away, Coppola is watching this scene play out on the news. And in that instance, the mob and the movie makers become one. Filming in New York ends days later on July 2, as Joe Colombo languishes in a coma at Roosevelt Hospital. But filming isn't truly over because they still have a few pivotal scenes to shoot. For those, the crew needs to head to the birthplace of the Mafia Sicily. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli is a production of Air Mail and iheartmedia.

[Nathan King]

The podcast is based on the book of the same name, written by our very own Mark Seal.

[Mark Seal]

Our producer is Tina Mullen.

[Nathan King]

Research assistants by Jack Sullivan.

[Mark Seal]

Jonathan Dressler was our development producer.

[Nathan King]

Our music supervisor is Randall Poster. Our executive producers are me, Nathan King, Mark Zeal, Dylan Fagan and Graydon Carter.

[Mark Seal]

Special thanks to Bridget Arceneaux and everyone at CDM Studios.

[Nathan King]

A comprehensive list of sources and acknowledgments can be found in Mark Seals Book Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster.

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[Mark Seal]

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[Mark Seal]

Connect with [e-mail] Amazon Pharmacy presents Painful Thoughts 20 more minutes to kill in the pharmacy before my prescription is ready, maybe I'll grab some deeply discounted out of season Halloween candy. I never had a chocolate pumpkin with raisins before.

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Those were raisins, right?

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