Hollywood Godfather by Gianni Russo

Author:Gianni Russo
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

* * *

I never realized what went into shooting a movie, but a picture the scope of The Godfather required significant logistical planning.

Security had to be tight because fans were trying to sneak onto the set by breaching the phony wall to steal whatever Godfather memorabilia wasn’t nailed down, and to catch a glimpse of the stars. The NYPD did a great job of providing a hard perimeter around the block, so that problem was alleviated.

Some 750 extras were used in the wedding scene, with days of rehearsals before a final take. These people got thirsty. I worked a deal for myself where I’d sell soda and pocket the profits. I went to Staten Island Community College’s theater department and asked for volunteers to serve the soda, and I got more people than I needed who wanted to rub shoulders with real movie stars. I was running through forty-five cases of soda a day, with a seventeen-dollar profit per case for the two weeks it took to shoot the scene. I made about ten grand.

Three wedding cakes were needed for the cake-cutting scene: a real cake, a fake cake, and one that could be sliced. I volunteered to find a bakery that could supply the cakes, and approached a local shop, La Rosa Pastry. I told the owner there was a contest among Staten Island bakers to see who would supply the wedding cakes for the picture. At first, he wasn’t interested, but when I told him the winner would have bragging rights as the baker that supplied the wedding cakes for The Godfather, with pictures to prove it, he became interested. I told him I’d get back to him in a few days because other bakeries were in the running, too.

There was no contest and no other bakeries were approached. This was me, continuing on my never-ending quest to make money.

I waited a few days, then told the owner of La Rosa that after I’d spoken to the producers, his bakery had been chosen out of all the bakeries on Staten Island to supply the cakes. La Rosa commenced to make the cakes.

The bakery budget for the cakes was fifteen hundred dollars, which I pocketed, along with a two-hundred-dollar “stocking fee” I got from the bakery. I took Polaroids of the finished products, which the owner proudly displayed in his shop.

Obviously, I didn’t believe in the starving-actor stereotype.

Finally, after countless rehearsals, the day came to shoot the wedding scene for real. Coppola wanted realism and requested that everyone enjoy themselves. To do that, we needed wine. I supplied that, too.

During the wedding scene, Don Corleone gathers the immediate family for a group picture. As the photographer is about to take the shot, Don Corleone notices that his youngest son, Michael, isn’t standing with the group. He says, “Where’s Michael?”

While Michael (Al Pacino) was walking into the picture frame, Brando took the opportunity to moon everyone, winning a bet for the person who mooned more people at one time than anyone else.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.