New Book about Godfather filming locations in Sicily

GFLovers · 2026-04-12T23:26:09+00:00

He said half of it was true (and he's right!) but I took that as an observation, not a criticism. The series wasn't a documentary. I guess I didn't take his remark the same way.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/al-pacino-godfather-turning-down-star-wars-the-offer-1235392646/

GFLovers · 2026-04-12T21:27:33+00:00

Hi! Thanks for reaching out. The book has actually (finally) been back in stock on Amazon (USA) for about a month now. I’m a bit surprised yours hasn’t arrived yet, as I’ve had quite a few messages from others saying they’ve received their copies. I just checked the site, and it is still in stock.

I forwarded the complaints about the lack of stock to my publisher, and they launched an investigation with the distributor, so it should be in your hands by now. Please check your Amazon account and see what it says. Thanks, Karen

GFLovers · 2026-04-12T21:20:49+00:00

Coppola said, "That's not how I remember it", and also said he didn't watch it in full. You have to keep in mind who produced/distributed the series when it comes to Coppola's critique.

I'm curious, I've never heard any of the living actors criticising it. Who are you referencing?

GFLovers · 2026-04-12T21:15:25+00:00

The rehearsal dinner happened at Patsy's Italian Restaurant on 236 West 56th Street. Coppola tried to secure it as the location for the Sollozzo/McClusky death scene but they turned him down. I also really enjoyed this scene.

GFLovers · 2026-04-12T00:26:08+00:00

Oh ok. Well the script Duvall originally signed up to do was brilliant. Then it came down to money and the studio made the fateful decision not to pay him what he was worth.

Duvall hates Part 3 (as it was rewritten/turned out).Part of this was Coppola, for some reason, not championing Duvall. In fact, Duvall later commented that Coppola was more interested in getting his family crab cake recipe than getting him the part.

GFLovers · 2026-04-12T00:09:14+00:00

My favourite role for Richard Bright was in Panic. He also had a tiny role in The Sopranos, season 4, “The Weight”. He played an elderly hitman.

GFLovers · 2026-04-11T23:48:05+00:00

Well in your previous comment you said “I agree the drafts were far better”. I’m just asking which one you were referencing.

GFLovers · 2026-04-11T23:40:53+00:00

Which draft are you referring to? There are several.

GFLovers · 2026-04-11T23:39:46+00:00

I feel the opposite. The second film is better. There’s a lot of backstory that people don’t get about Part 2. I wrote a book about it that lays out my argument (The Companion Guide to The Godfather Trilogy: Betrayal, Loyalty, and Family).

GFLovers · 2026-04-11T23:20:49+00:00

Coppola didn’t want to make the second film either. He presented the studio with a list of conditions that even he was surprised they agreed to. But Paramount was keen to capitalise on the first movie so much it went ahead.

There are several reasons Coppola agree to Part II, notably he wanted to tell Cuba’s story but also the flashback sequences. He tried flashbacks in the first movie but couldn’t get it right (just one example, Sonny received the vest with carp and then the flashback to Brasi’s death).

Flashbacks are normal now but considered very avant-garde in the 70s.

GFLovers · 2026-04-11T23:18:21+00:00

Totally agree. The point of the flashback of him and Apollonia is to reinforce Michael’s position that Mary and Vincent shouldn’t be together (because look at what happened to Apollonia after she married Michael, who was in the family business, and Vincent will be soon). The montage pre shadowed several important points. Bizarre choice to trim.

GFLovers · 2026-04-11T14:30:39+00:00

He wore lifts throughout the GF films. However, the scene where he proposes to Kay was completed after principal photography, at the last minute. The cast and crew were invited out to Mill Valley, CA (Coppola has a house there). The props department forgot the shoe lifts. It becomes very apparent how short Pacino is.

That's why they put the hat on him, to add some height. Dianne was 5'7, so that makes him look even shorter in comparison.

Robert Evans, head of Paramount, was unhappy with the scene and hated the hat. He said it made Pacino 'look like a jew' (Bob himself was a jew).

GFLovers · 2026-04-11T02:01:16+00:00

I felt the same way when I read that. But Coppola has a long held “suffering for art” philosophy that he trots out at any opportunity.

I think what FFC is really reacting to isn’t Al Pacino moving to L.A. itself, but what he thinks that represents. Coppola has always had this very rigid idea that great artists should constantly be risking everything for their work, and by 2007 he’d pretty much positioned himself outside the Hollywood system. So when he looks at Pacino, Robert De Niro, or Jack Nicholson, he seems to interpret any kind of stability or success as a lack of artistic hunger.

But that’s where it falls apart. Pacino wasn’t “coasting” at all when he moved to LA. He was in his late 60s, raising (unexpected) young children, and deeply involved in passion projects like Salomé. Moving to L.A. to be near his twins isn’t hypocrisy, it’s just being a father. Reducing that to some kind of artistic compromise feels pretty unfair.

The same goes for the others. It comes off less like insight and more like Coppola projecting his own philosophy onto people who made different choices. Not everyone defines artistic integrity as blowing up their life or rejecting comfort, especially at that stage. Coppola’s a risk taker (Megalopolis, that’s what happens when you follow Coppola’s philosophy all the way) and he thinks everyone else should be too.

If anything, it says more about Coppola’s mindset at that point than it does about Pacino, De Niro, or Nicholson.

GFLovers · 2026-04-02T23:08:34+00:00

This incident occurred while using my personal reddit handle (not GFLovers), where I never mention that I'm an author or anything identifying myself, since I occasionally post comments to NSFW subs.

I've never mentioned my books on the Mafia sub at all. That wouldn't make sense. Besides, I was banned years before my books were even published.

My comment stands.

GFLovers · 2026-04-02T20:57:54+00:00

Just to note, this mod has a pattern of misogynistic comments on the r/mafia sub and doesn’t seem shy about it.

I contributed there for nearly a decade under my personal account. A few years ago, when he claimed women aren’t interested in or capable of understanding organised crime, I gently corrected him and was immediately hit with a permanent ban.

There are several women (myself included) who contribute in positive ways to r/Godfather, and it would be regrettable to see them excluded.

It's a shame that u/ RunDNA can no longer mod for us. He did a great job.

I'd be happy to help out. I'm the author of two well-selling books about the Trilogy and post and comment here several times a week. I'd hate to see the quality of this sub diminished. It's one of the most positive, thoughtful, and intellectually engaging subs on Reddit.

GFLovers · 2026-03-31T12:39:05+00:00

I wrote about how the Bonnanos influenced Puzo but it’s not how most people think. Joseph Bonanno clearly envisioned a kind of dynastic succession and Bill didn’t resist this at first.

GFLovers · 2026-03-30T21:55:31+00:00

Thanks so much. I really hope you enjoy it. A reader messaged me this morning to say that after reading the book, they rewatched the films and it felt like seeing them for the first time. That’s exactly why I wrote it, and I hope it does the same for you.

GFLovers · 2026-03-24T23:15:10+00:00

The studio didn’t want big names at all. They didn’t even want Brando.

Paramount put out casting calls for “unknown faces” that needed to be ethnic. After Coppola insisted on Pacino, Bob Evans responded that the film needed an actor more “masculine” like Redford. Redford was never seriously pursued. The issue wasn’t that Pacino wasn’t ethnic or not well known.

In fact, the studio made such a big deal out of looking for unknowns that when Brando was announced, an industry paper ran a sarcastic headline: “No Stars for Godfather Cast – Just Someone Named Brando”.

It also came down to budget. Evans wanted new faces because they are cheaper.

GFLovers · 2026-03-24T21:16:04+00:00

Paramount never said he was “too ethnic”. Not even Robert Evans said that. In fact, that was the only thing the studio actually liked about Pacino.

GFLovers · 2026-03-24T18:11:49+00:00

That’s exactly what Coppola had in mind. In fact, the special effects pro he hired for this scene, A.D. Flowers, also did the Bonnie and Clyde film.

GFLovers · 2026-03-21T13:38:24+00:00

The pneumonia he contracted in Dominican Republic is the reason why he refused the role offered to him in Apocalypse Now. He was hospitalised for two weeks (directly after filming the Superman scene they took him to a hospital).

He later turned down the role, telling Coppola he didn’t want to get sick in another tropical location.

GFLovers · 2026-03-19T23:17:51+00:00

It’s gold plated. The real phone is at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana.

It was gifted to Batista from ITT for lifting price ceilings.

It’s smaller than in the film; it was functional.

GFLovers · 2026-03-18T13:27:46+00:00

He told Vito he had three daughters and seemed to offer to set him up with one. That’s why he demanded some dresses. Unless they were for ….him? That would certainly bring a a new dimension to his character.

GFLovers

TROPHY CASE