The practical revenge James Caan took on Francis Ford Coppola
During his tenure as a movie director, Francis Ford Coppola has been responsible for helping a number of actors come into the limelight. While the most obvious star is Al Pacino, who Coppola took a gamble on for The Godfather, the director had also played a significant hand in bringing James Caan through the ranks.
Caan drew attention for his effort in Coppola’s 1969 road drama film The Rain People, just a few years before he announced himself as an acclaimed actor in the TV movie Brian’s Song. Of course, by the time 1972 rolled around, Caan delivered one of the most memorable performances of his career as Sonny Corleone in Coppola’s The Godfather.
The actor had actually been set to play Michael Corleone, but he was eventually given the role of the hot-tempered eldest son of Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone after Coppola had insisted that the Michael role go to Pacino. In turn, Caan ended up being nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his effort as Sonny, so it was a good job he stuck around on the film’s production.
Back in 2022, shortly before Caan passed away at the age of 82, the actor had spoken of his kinship with Coppola, who came from the same part of New York City as Caan, Sunnyside and how their upbringing allowed Coppola to trust the actor to improvise on set. “His grandmother lived around the corner from me and we behaved in certain ways, so he let me go pretty much,” Caan told AV Club. “Sonny tells people ‘bada bing’ and all that stuff, it was never written. I just did it, and Francis let me go.”
Fellow actor Jennifer Tilley, who worked with Caan on 2003’s Jericho Mansions, had once revealed a story about Caan and Coppola that showed the actor and director’s special friendship. “Once he told me Coppola had the habit of grabbing food off his plate & eating it,” Tilley wrote on Twitter following Caan’s death in 2022, “so one day he made a sandwich with very hot jalapeños between two pieces of buttered bread, and waited outside Coppola’s airstream…”
Caan knew that Coppola would be eyeing up his sandwich, and when the director “gobbled it down” without checking what was inside, he suddenly found that he was in for a very hot surprise. Tilley continued, “Immediately tears started squirting out of his eyes & he started yelling ‘What is this? What did you do to me?!’ And Jimmy said meekly, ‘Did I ask you to eat my sandwich? Did I?’”
The incident was one in which the legendary cinema pair enjoyed a moment of laughter, although Caan was known to take no prisoners when it came to his collaborators messing with him, particularly when it came to his food. That was likely the last time the director took a bite from Caan’s plate without asking.
In an interview with Deadline, Coppola spoke of his overall impression and love for Caan. “From those earlier times working together on The Rain People, and throughout all the milestones of my life, his films and the many great roles he played will never be forgotten,” the iconic filmmaker said. “He will always be my old friend from Sunnyside, my collaborator and one of the funniest people I’ve ever known.”
