A Filmmaker's Guide to 100 Things You Should Know About "The Godfather" (1972)

On the 15th of March, 1972, the world of cinema would change forever at one of the most anticipated premieres in cinema history. "The Godfather" was premiered on this day in 1972 and became one of the most beloved films in cinema history with some people citing it as the greatest film ever made. It is on my own older brother's list of favourite movies and I myself have watched it countless times over the past 10-15 years. There is no doubt about the fact that it was a landmark in cinema history not only through its technique, its story and its ability to create atmosphere - but also through the stellar cast of Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire and many more. It truly is one of the great moments in cinema history that is still remembered today by many who were there at the time it was released. Today, as of 2020, we celebrate the movie's 48th anniversary.

Let's have a look at some movie trivia to do with one of the greatest films ever made - "The Godfather" (1972)...

The Godfather (1972) Trivia:

1. The film is included on the list of the 100 greatest Hollywood movie scripts of all time

2. For the scene of Don Vito's funeral, there were over 150 extras in the film

3. There was supposed to be an intermission in the film, but Coppola stated he no longer wanted on

4. Michael constantly drinks water throughout the films in order to hint at his diabetic condition

5. Don Vito dies on the 29th of July, 1955.

6. Sonny's death scene was inspired by the death of Bonnie and Clyde

7. Robert de Niro was supposed to play Paulie

8. Oranges represent a death-related event and are normally near its occurrence

9. Pacino almost got fired from the film for complaining about the boring nature of his character

10. 17 people and a horse represent the body count of this film

11. Coppola didn't like the baptism scene cutting to the assassinations until the soundtrack was added, then he absolutely loved it

12. In one part of the film, Santino is seen playing with a cane. This cane belonged to Al Pacino who injured his leg during the escape from the restaurant scene

13. They had to shoot the funeral of Don Corleone in a private location on Long Island so that nobody would know what was going on and none of the possible audience members would see it

14. In the horse's head scene, a fake horse's head was used for primary shooting but for the actual scene, a real one was used. John Marley's screams of terror are completely real

15. The studio threatened to sack Coppola if he said the word "Brando" once more

16. The movie was the highest grossing film of 1972

17. 32 years, 14 weeks and one day after the release of this movie - Marlon Brando passed away

18. The studio hated Al Pacino so much that they wanted to fire him. Coppola kept having to convince them not to

19. Burt Reynolds was supposed to portray Michael, but Brando said he wouldn't portray Vito if Reynolds was in the movie stating that a 'runt' was not allowed to play Michael

20. Al Pacino and Talia Shire have the same birthday

21. The film inspired the director Chris Columbus to go into filmmaking when he watched it at the age of 15

22. Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Michael because he felt Michael should be Italian

23. James Caan portrays an Italian-American but is Jewish, whereas Alex Rocco portrays a Jewish man but is Italian-American

24. The first act is around 45 minutes long but then the second act ends at about the 2 and a quarter hour point, making it over twice as long as the first act

25. Charles Bronson was also considered for Michael Corleone

26. Frank Sinatra was considered for Don Vito

27. Marlon Brando lost a considerable amount of weight to get into character

28. James Caan and Al Pacino were only ten years younger than the actress who portrays their mother

29. There were initial interludes that were supposed to appear in the film in order to set it up for an intermission. Be that as it may, none of the shots appear in the common cut of the film

30. A lot of the other members of the cast felt James Caan was miscast as he didn't look Italian

31. Orson Welles wanted very badly to be Vito. But Coppola, as a huge fan of Welles, felt that Welles just couldn't play a mafia boss. Orson Welles even offered to lose a ton of weight for the role

32. The team wanted Al Pacino to wear lifts

33. It is number 1 on the Empire Magazine's Greatest Films of All Time

34. Features James Caan's only Oscar nominated performance

35. Laurence Olivier was considered to play Don Vito

36. Six cameras were used to shoot the wedding scene

37. David Carradine was screen-tested for Michael

38. Entertainment Weekly stated it as the greatest film of all time

39. Clint Eastwood handed the film the Best Picture Academy Award

40. Apparently, according to the producer, nobody enjoyed making that film and it was constantly miserable on set

41. After being ejected from the part of Michael, Burt Reynolds signed up for Sonny, but Marlon Brando still refused to work with him

42. In the novel, Santino is the eldest child of Don Vito - but in the film it is Fredo

43. Luca Brasi's death was written as a flashback in the book

44. Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates) auditioned for the role of Sonny

45. The song on the radio whilst Michael and Kay dine together is "All of My Life" by Irving Berlin

46. Moe Green's death is inspired by "Battleship Potemkin"

47. Nino Rota composed the title piece of music

48. The murders committed in the film all begin and end with the act of strangulation

49. If you calculate it correctly, Kay and Michael reconcile their relationship in 1951, four years before Don Vito dies

50. The hospital scenes were filmed in two separate locations

51. The Corleones are based on the Borgias

52. Even Elvis Presley wanted in on the film, he once stated he wanted to play Don Vito because he was a huge fan of the book

53. Steve McQueen and Paul Newman auditioned for the role of Tom Hagen, as did Elvis Presley and Jerry Van Dyke

54. Mia Farrow expressed her interest to play Kay Adams-Corleone and auditioned for the part

55. The mother of Martin Scorsese suggested putting Richard Conte in the movie

56. Production on the film began on the 29th of March, 1971 - although, Marlon Brando had to honour his contract for "Last Tango in Paris" and so, only worked on the film for thirty five days from April 12th to May 28th.

57. Tommy Lee Jones was considered for the part of Michael

58. Al Pacino went into method acting after his character gets punched in the face and has his jaw wired shut in real life

59. The film took 77 days to shoot

60. Diane Keaton's portrayal of Kay is based on Eleanor Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola's wife.

61. The film was selected for the Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1990

62. During the hospital scenes that were filmed in real hospitals, doctors and nurses on duty would keep walking by the room in order to get a look at Marlon Brando

63. Don Rickles inspired James Caan's portrayal of Santino

64. Sonny has an 'encounter' with Lucy and whilst this scene was being filmed, Eleanor Coppola went into labour and Sofia Coppola was being born

65. Al Martino was thought too old to play Johnny Fontaine

66. The film takes place between 1945 and 1955

67. Marlon Brando initially turned down the role repeatedly because he was concerned about glamorising the mafia

68. After the death of Marlon Brando, the script he used was auctioned for almost $13K

69. The snowstorm at the point where the characters exit the diner was a real snowstorm

70. Two different churches were used for the baptism scene

71. Crime families across America responded with enthusiasm to the film with the head of the Gambino family stating: "I left the movie stunned. I mean I floated out of the theatre. Maybe it was fiction, but for me, then, that was our life. It was incredible. I remember talking to a multitude of guys, made guys, who felt exactly the same way."

72. Marlon Brando didn't like Al Martino

73. James Caan was supposed to play Tom Hagen

74. Connie's Wedding is the only scene in which Diane Keaton appears with Marlon Brando

75. Kay and Michael go to see "The Bells of St. Mary's" (1945) at Radio City Music Hall when Michael finds out that his father has had an attempt made against his life

76. Francis Ford Coppola initially didn't want to direct the film because it glamorised mafia violence

77. James Caan hung out with criminals in order to learn about his role

78. Robert Duvall received £36K for 8 weeks of work

79. All the actors that were portraying Don Vito's sons were only around sixteen years younger than Brando himself

80. Francis Ford Coppola was initially not going to put the horse's head scene in because he didn't care for it but when he did film it, he noticed that it was too iconic to delete

81. Brando and Caan had to wear lifts

82. The executive of Paramount Pictures, Peter Bart, bought the rights to Mario Puzo's novel when it was still only a 20-page outline and not even a novel yet!

83. Marlon Brando was 47 when playing Don Vito and was considered too young. Even when his makeup was done, he still looked too young to everyone

84. James Caan claims that 45 minutes of his character was cut from the film

85. The first scene to be filmed was Kay and Michael going Christmas Shopping

86. Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and James Caan were all paid $35K for the film

87. The production company making the film was about to go bankrupt and urged Coppola to make the film more violent

88. Marlon Brando has lead billing but also has less than an hour of screen-time

89. Francis Ford Coppola felt that Talia Shire was too pretty for the part and didn't want to be accused of nepotism because she was his sister

90. Stanley Kubrick stated that the film had the greatest cast ever

91. The sequel was planned before the first film was even made because the hype was so positive

92. "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" was an improvised line

93. Most of the cars have wooden bumpers

94. Marlon Brando didn't read his lines from the script and memorise them. Instead, he used cue cards

95. The cat held by Brando was a stray cat Coppola found

96. The slap Vito gives Fontaine wasn't in the script. It was improvised because Vito was supposed to pull Fontaine's hair but he was wearing a toupee so he had to do something else

97. The part where James Caan throws the FBI photographer's camera on the ground was also improvised

98. Marlon Brando wore a mouthpiece made by a dentist for the role of Vito since he wanted to make Vito look like a bulldog. During his screen-test, he stuffed his mouth with cotton wool.

99. Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi) was very nervous about working with Brando and so couldn't remember his lines. This is used in the final cut as an act of nervousness

100. As a prank, Brando put weights on the bed that was supposed to be carried up the stairs with him on it in order to make it heavier than it looked for the people who were carrying it

Happy "Godfather" Premiere Day Everyone!