“I spent my life trying not to be careless. Women and children can be careless. But not men.”
Paramount considered many directors including Sidney Furie, Constantine Costas-Gravas and Peter Yates. They chose Francis Ford Coppola because he excelled as a screenwriter (co-wrote the screenplay for Patton 1970), was inexpensive, his early directing showed great promise and his name would deflect controversy with the Italian-American community. Conceptually, Coppola saw the movie as a great family saga, not just another Mafia flick. He was to be paid $125,000 plus 6 percent of the gross. Ernest Borgnine, Edward G. Robinson, Orson Welles and George C. Scott were all considered by Paramount for the role of Vito Corleone. Burt Lancaster wanted it but was never considered. Frank Sinatra, despite his distaste for the novel, talked with Coppola. But Coppola wanted either an Italian-American or an actor so talented that he could portray one. He wanted either Laurence Olivier or Marlon Brando to play the Don. Olivier was gravely ill at the time. Brando’s recent films had been flops and producers considered him as washed up. He convinced them by doing an extraordinary screen test. Paramount initially offered him only union scale, but according to Robert Evans, the former Paramount production head, Brando was paid $50,000, plus points. But later, once the studio believed the film was going to be a big hit, they bought back his points just before the movie’s release for only $100,000. Evans claims this fleecing of Brando is the reason why he refused to do any publicity to help promote the movie or appear in the sequel two years later.
