of, “What is he talking about?” At that time, my
I not won the Oscar for Patton, I would absolutely
or hairdressers and clothes. A period picture adds
life was such a jumble. I was basically very scared,
have been fired from The Godfather.
a big cost. So I was not popular, wanting to make
for good reason because I had a very unusual
it in New York and set it in the ’40s, which is when
movie, which of course may or may not have been
But didn’t Fox hate your Patton script, until
the book was set, because I felt that that was a big
accepted. And all that debt I didn’t know how I was
George C. Scott forced their hand?
part of the story. The fact I survived is a miracle to
going to pay down, which was going to wipe me out.
True. They were talking to Burt Lancaster and
me, to be honest, because I had no clout; no big,
A couple of years later, I was in some relatively
he very much didn’t like my script—especially
successful movies. The only thing I had going for me
cheap hotel in London and Apocalypse Now came
that beginning scene. He felt that it was totally
was that I was Italian-American.
on television. I always liked the opening: the helicop-
anticlimactic that I started the film with this
I was young, which meant that they thought
ter, the napalm, the guy in the hotel room. I thought
portrait of Patton. So I was basically replaced
they could push me around, and they did push me
I’d watch that part and turn it off, but I watched the
because of the opening. Then, years later, when
around. And also I was pretty much considered a
whole thing, and it was a big moment because I’d
Lancaster was not going to do it and they brought
good screenwriter, and they definitely needed a free
realized by then that the movie is less weird now, like
in George C. Scott, he wasn’t crazy about the new
rewrite of that script, so that’s why I got the job.
those avant-garde paintings that a few years later
script. A man named David Brown said that there
How I kept it, I don’t know.
become the wallpaper in peoples’ houses.
was a young guy that did a much more strange
It was helpful that every major director they
script. It was David Brown who resurrected my
went to turned it down. Elia Kazan, Costa-Gavras,
and footage. I had so much footage. Distributors
script. I wasn’t around so I didn’t know that, but
everybody turned it down because there had been
were saying, “Why don’t you make a version of
that’s how that happened.
a mafia picture called The Brotherhood starring the
Meanwhile, there’s all these other sequences
Apocalypse that has everything in it?” I had these
wonderful Kirk Douglas that flopped. So the idea of
Betamax tapes. I had all this material, so we did this
Why weren’t you there to accept your Oscar?
long version, put everything back in, and that was
Because I was in New York, about to get fired from
Apocalypse Now Redux. When the film was going
The Godfather. In fact, the night of the Oscars, I
if they could make it for $2.5m with this young
SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES
watched the show with Marty Scorsese and he
director, who maybe could direct actors… Peter Bart
said to me, “How are they going to fire you now?”
had seen this movie I made called The Rain People
Because he knew I was in deep, deep trouble.
and he thought the acting in it was presentable. So
Scenes from The Godfather trilogy. Left: Coppola directs Marlon Brando. Center: James Caan, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino & John Cazale. Right: Al Pacino.
an Italian gangster picture... The book was taking off, though, so they thought
he thought maybe that would be OK. Where were What didn’t they like about The Godfather?
we going with this?
to have its 40th anniversary at Tribeca, they asked,
They hated my casting ideas. They hated the Al
“Which version did you want to show, the original or
Pacino idea. They hated the Brando idea. They
You were talking about making The Cotton Club
Redux?” I said, “I would love to do my own ‘classic’
hated the fact that I decided to set it in New York
after you almost got pushed off The Godfather
version, which would be something in between
and they fought it. Of course, their reasoning was
by Bob Evans…
those two.” There are some sequences in Redux
logical. There was a movie made in New York called
So, when The Godfather fooled everyone and was
that aren’t interesting and I’d wished I would have
Mister Buddwing and what followed was a big to-do
this colossal success, they came to me and said, “Of
taken them out. So I used those Betamax tapes
about how inhospitable New York was to movies,
course we want to make Michael Corleone Returns,
and made the third version. It will be released as
how expensive they were. So there was a sort of
because it made money.” I said I didn’t want to
Apocalypse Now: Final Cut.
boycott on New York, and when I suggested it to
have anything to do with Paramount Pictures or
Paramount for this little $2.5m version of this book
Bob Evans. I didn’t want to have anything to do with
Why did you recut The Cotton Club, which you’ll
they bought—The Godfather—they wanted to make
gangsters. I could say that because I now had a
have ready for this fall?
it in St. Louis and set it in the ’70s.
couple of bucks.
Cotton Club was a very strange endeavor. I didn’t get
Finally I said, “Here’s what I will do...” I loved Mario
along with Bob Evans during The Godfather at all. He
Why?
Puzo—he was a wonderful man and I really liked
was so tough on me. I was seriously on the verge of
Because it was the ’70s, and if a movie is set in
working with him. I said, “I’ll work with Mario, and
getting fired maybe on three or four occasions. Had
the ’70s then you don’t have to get special cars,
we’ll make a script for a second Godfather movie,
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D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E