For the Godfatheraphiles among us, and I count myself as a big one (in more ways than one), the latest issue of Vanity Fair does not disappoint.
In a long story, author Mark Seal details the Hollywood and real Mob fights behind the making of the film. The story's tease pitches it this way:
In many ways, the men who made The Godfather-director Francis Ford Coppola, producer Al Ruddy, Paramount executives Robert Evans and Peter Bart, and Gulf & Western boss Charles Bluhdorn-were as ruthless as the gangsters in Mario Puzo's blockbuster. After violent disputes over the casting of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, they tangled with the real-life Mob, which didn't want the movie made at all. The author recalls how the clash of Hollywood sharks, Mafia kingpins, and cinematic geniuses shaped a Hollywood masterpiece.
Seal details how producers didn't want the short Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, among other colorful anecdotes. The piece begins:
This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2009.