While some may be a bit skeptical of the upcoming The Godfather Making of Movie, there is no denying that it has attracted some initial top-notch talent. It has been announced that Barry Levinson will direct Francis And The Godfather and he has tapped Oscar Isaac to portray Francis Ford Coppola while Jake Gyllenhaal is on board to play Robert Evans in a drama about the legendary and wild battles that went into making the 1972 classic The Godfather.
The film is based on a Black List script by Andrew Farotte that was redeveloped by Levinson. Echo Lake Entertainment’s Mike Marcus, Doug Mankoff, and Andrew Spaulding are producing with Kevin Turen, Jon Levin, and Baltimore Pictures’ Jason Sosnoff. Endeavor Content is handling worldwide rights with FilmNation.
The Godfather is considered one of the best films of all-time and is highly regarded in the industry but apparently, the behind-the-scenes drama is worthy of its own film as well. Coppola was 31 at the time and determined to convince Evans and the studio to allow him to film expensively in New York, set in the time period of a novel which would become a big bestseller. The original Mario Puzo script was set in contemporary Kansas City, which led to its very own debate. Among the other debates that occurred during the making of the film was the idea to gamble on Marlon Brando, an eclectic character who hadn’t been in a hit film in years, to play mob family patriarch Don Corleone (for which he would win the Best Actor prize), and also Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, a character who slowly evolved from a desire to get far away from the family business to taking it over when it was clear his father would be murdered even after a bungled assassination attempt. Evans, who took the top job after a career as an actor, had pressures all his own, as the studio was in danger of closing up shop. There was also the uneasy discussions with real mobsters who were none too pleased to have their dirty business to be aired in a major studio film.
No firm release date as of yet for the film and casting is still ongoing for the other behind-the-scenes players of the film.
