72 | Kum » The Godfather Fenomeni / phenomena The Godfather initially received 11 Oscar nominations, but this was reduced after it was revealed that Nina Rote’s music lacked sufficient original material and was similar to the score he’d composed for the 1958 film Fortunella. The producers requested that Coppola set the film in 1970s Kansas City, but he remained consistent with post-war NewYork. Character rehearsals during preparations for shooting weren’t conducted in the form of typical rehearsals, but rather the entire teamwould have family dinners during which they didn’t break character. Paramount had wanted Laurence Olivier to play the role of Vito Corleone, but they ultimately accept Brando, setting three conditions. The first was that Brando had to pass a screen test, the second was that he had to do the film free of charge and the third was that he would agree to cover the costs of any financial losses. However, following his successful screen test, the producers were so thrilled that they decided to abandon the other two conditions. 1 2 3 4 Al Pacino also wasn’t the first choice to play Michael Corleone. Those auditioning for the role included Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Ryan O’Neal and even James Caan, who went on to play Sonny. Both actors were ultimately nominated for Oscars for supportingmale roles. The wedding scene was completely improvised, because the teamhad only two days to shoot it and the film’s production had already failed tomeet all deadlines by that time. The cat seen in Vito Corleone’s lap ended up in the film after Coppola found it while he was walking around Harlem and decided to bring it to the set. Marlon Brando refused to receive his Oscar in 1973, in protest over discrimination against Native Americans, so an Apache lady appeared on the stage and read a letter that Brando had written. Marlon Brando has just 40minutes of screen-time in the film, which ranks him third – after Anthony Hopkins’ 24 minutes in The Silence of the Lambs and David Niven’s mere 23 minutes in Separate Tables – among winners of the Oscar for best actor in a leading role with the shortest screen-time. 5 6 7 8 9 Foto: Paramoun Picture / Schapiro Steve / Profimedia Foto: The Holywood Archive / Profimedia didn’t think their investment in the film would pay off. Representing an additional problem for Paramount was the newwave of censorship implemented under President Richard Nixon, as well as the war in Vietnam that was then still current. However, just as “NewHollywood” had begunwith a showof violence, starting with the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, Coppola gained additional self-confidence and defied the studio’s leaders, who had considered The Godfather a crime B-movie during the post-production stage. Following a turbulent six months, filming was completed in September 1971, despite the premiere being scheduled for the followingMarch. Paramount then decided not to finance any additional costs and almost abandoned the project, expecting the film to be a complete debacle. The Godfather was shot with a budget that was very modest even for the 1970s (six million dollars), but it earned asmuchas260millionglobally, thus ranking it among the tenmost successful films of the decade. Brando’sportrayal ofVitoCorleone, apart frombeingmetwithgreat success among audiences and critics alike, also remained remembered for being visually distinct, because he wore prosthetic mouthpiece inserts on both sides of his lower jaw for the role, in order to depict the character inthewayCoppolahad imagined him(We can see themtoday displayed as exhibits at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image). At the1973Oscars,TheGodfatherwon three of the ten awards for which it hadbeennominated, includingBest Picture, Best Actor inaLeadingRole (Marlon Brando) and Best Adapted Screenplay.The trilogyofGodfather films was nominated for a total of 28 Oscars and won nine – three for the original and six for the sequel – ranking it among the film franchises with the most nominations, behind Star Wars (37) and The Lord of the Rings (30). Al Paćino nije bio prvi izbor za ulogu Majkla Korleonea Al Pacino wasn’t the first choice to play Michael Corleone
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzExMjc5