Survivors of ‘The Godfather’ meet for reunion 45 years on
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DEBILITATING studio battles. One miraculously still cat. Mooning contests between James Caan and Marlon Brando. These were the memories shared, 45 years later, on the making of “The Godfather” in a rare reunion of the film’s cast and director Francis Ford Coppola at Radio City Music Hall.
With the stage decorated to resemble the library of Brando’s Don Corleone, and a portrait of the actor hanging above, Coppola and cast members Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, James Caan, Diane Keaton and Talia Shire, gathered together once again on Saturday.
The night was organized by De Niro as the closing evening of his Tribeca Film Festival, which preceded the affair with a grand double feature of “The Godfather,” parts one and two.
That made for a long day — the event spanned nearly nine hours — but the event was one of giddy delight for devotees of Coppola’s masterpieces.
While both films are widely viewed as among the finest ever made, Coppola and cast spoke again and again about the films’ humble origins, when Coppola was a young, untested director, Pacino was an unknown theater actor who the studio, Paramount, was loathe to cast, and few thought the source material — Mario Puzo’s best-seller — was the stuff of great cinema.
There were many reminiscences shared on Saturday.
All marveled at the cat, roaming nearby, that was thrust into one scene where it calmly burrowed in Brando’s lap. After the lengthy wedding scene, Pacino said, he and Keaton “got so loaded, we were on the floor.” During the same scene, Duvall said, “We were all mooning each other and Brando took it very seriously.”
Brando, who died in 2004, wasn’t the only one missing on Saturday. John Cazale (Fredo) was spoken of frequently, as was cinematographer Gordon Willis.
The event was live streamed on Facebook. The conversation sometimes got bogged down and some on the panel hardly spoke, as many watching grumbled. De Niro said little until nearly an hour in.
But having recently watched the films for the first time in decades, Keaton could hardly contain her amazement.
“Every choice you made was so authentically brilliant,” she exclaimed to Coppola. “It’s so unusual.”
With time running out, Coppola tried to take questions from the audience. But after just a few questions, a voice announced over the speakers that the night was over.
Coppola and the group gathered together on stage to embrace each other while the crowd, eager for more, took pictures of the legendary “Godfather” team, draped arm in arm.
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