TIL 20: Gangster Prodigy

I absolutely love ‘The Godfather’ movie series.

Rewatched both the movies (yes we’re completely going to ignore the 3rd one) over the weekend and it still holds up.

The film is a masterclass in screenwriting, directing, acting. Performances from Al Pacino and Marlon Brando still give you goosebumps. The dynamic between the Italian mob families and their origin story is so cleverly written. No wonder the films won multiple Oscars- including the one for ‘Best adapted screenplay’.

I went down the IMDB rabbit hole of the film and found this- ‘Mario Puzo, the writer of the original novels as well as the film’s screenwriter, had no prior experience or had studied writing screenplays prior to ‘The Godfather’. In fact, after winning two Oscars, he decided to pick up a screenwriting book. In the first chapter of the book, it said — ‘Study Godfather I’.

Also, this is how a journalist interview went with Mario Puzo:

GROSS: “One of the most famous lines that you come — that you came up with was about making an offer you can’t refuse.”
PUZO: “Yeah.”
GROSS: “Does that line have its roots in mob lore that you knew, or did it…”
PUZO: “No, I made it up.”

Genius :)