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‘The Godfather’ role that Robert De Niro turned down
Francis Ford Coppola’s groundbreaking trilogy, The Godfather, compounded his reputation as one of the most influential directors of the 20th century after the release of its first instalment in 1972.
The first film saw the firmly established Hollywood hero Marlon Brando as the quintessential mob leader Don Vito Corleone alongside Al Pacino, Robert Duvall and James Caan. With the release of The Godfather Part II just two years later, a young Robert De Niro was cast to step into Brando’s shoes as the young Vito Corleone.
De Niro’s seminal performance made for a sequel that lived up to the high expectations following the first. Some fans of the trilogy argue that the second film was superior to the first, while most concur that the 1990 third instalment was lacking in expectant quality despite still being a worthy continuation of the storyline.
On paper, the second film beat the first with regard to awards. Where the first won three Oscars, the second won six. Both took home the Best Picture prize, but many argue that the determining factor was De Niro’s involvement in part two.
As it transpires, the casting for the first film threw up endless challenges. First of all, the studio heads reportedly weren’t keen on having Brando and Pacino in the film. Meanwhile, Coppola didn’t want his sister Talia Shire to feature in the film either.
One actor they did want to feature in the first instalment was De Niro. He auditioned for the part of Paulie Gatto, the character who works under Corleone caporegime Clemenza (Richard Castellano) and famously meets his end at the wheel of a car. According to Peter Biskind, De Niro was also considered for a number of other roles after his auditions, including Michael Corleone.
Having seen De Niro’s significant acting capabilities, the casting team invited him in for the role. Fortunately, for everyone involved, De Niro dropped out of playing the part of Paulie Gatto to shoot The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight instead.
While The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight wasn’t the biggest breakout for De Niro in his early career, it was a much more involved role offered to him than that from The Godfather crew. But most importantly, his absence from the first film freed him up for his pivotal leading role in part two.
Watch one of De Niro’s most memorable moments in The Godfather Part II below.
