While Francis Ford Coppola wanted Martin Scorsese to replace him as the director ofThe Godfather Part II, it might secretly be a good thing that this never happened.TheGodfathertrilogyisn’t perfect, and it is tough to find even the most forgiving fan or critic who would argue thatThe Godfather Part IIIlives up to its two franchise predecessors. That said,The Godfather Part IIsits alongsideTerminator 2: Judgment DayandAliensas one of the most frequently cited examples of a sequel that managed to outdo its predecessor.
For allThe Godfather Part III’s disappointments,The Godfather Part IIis an unquestioned masterpiece. Building on the elegiac tone of the original, director Francis Ford Coppola’s sequel opens up the world of the series with a sprawling, multi-generational crime saga. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino dazzle as a young Vito Corleone and his troubled son Michael, and the parallels between their divergent character arcs gracefully intersect in an epic tragedy that spans decades and continents. However,The Godfather Part IIwas almost a very different movie as the project almost had a very different director.
Francis Ford Coppola Wanted Martin Scorsese To Direct The Godfather II Due To Studio Meddling
The Godfather’s Tricky Production Made Coppola Eager To Hand The Franchise Over
According to anEsquireretrospective on the making ofThe Godfather Part II,Coppola’s strained relationship withThe Godfatherproducer Bob Evans led him to suggest Scorsese directingThe Godfather Part II. WhileThe Godfatherwas a huge success, its production was infamously troubled from start to finish. From questionable investors to trouble securing funds, to location shooting issues, toThe Godfather’s surprisingly extensive prosthetics work, the Mario Puzo adaptation left its director spent.The Godfathermight have been an Academy Award-winning blockbuster, but that alone couldn’t tempt Coppola back.
Paramount Pictures wasn’t eager to hand the reins of what could be an immensely profitable franchise over to Coppola’s young, unproven wunderkind.
In a 2019 interview, Coppola toldDeadlinethat he instead asked Paramount Pictures to hire “A fabulous young director by the name of Martin Scorsese.” Scorsese’s career was heating up at the time thanks to the success ofMean Streets, but the director had not even turned 30 and only had three feature films to his name. It would be another three years before he directed De Niro inTaxi Driverand another four after that before he made 1980’s seminal boxing biopicRaging Bull. Although hindsight is 20/20, Scorsese was undeniably an untested talent.
Understandably, Paramount Pictures wasn’t eager to hand the reins of what could be an immensely profitable franchise over to Coppola’s young, unproven wunderkind. As a result, the studio came back with an offer that Coppola couldn’t refuse. Complete creative control and a million-dollar paycheck convinced Coppola to direct the sequel, resulting in one of the best gangster movies ever and arguably one of Hollywood’s greatest offerings. For allThe Godfather’s divergences from the realitiesof mob life,The Godfather Part IIdebuted to critical acclaim and commercial success.
Why Martin Scorsese Didn’t Direct The Godfather Part II
Paramount Wanted Coppola Despite The Director’s Misgivings
Paramount refused to hire Scorsese forThe Godfather Part IIdue to his lack of experience, so the director never got the chance to turn down the job himself. It is not entirely clear whether Scorsese would have wanted to take on such a gargantuan responsibility so early in his career when his work to date was mostly notable for its raw edge and lithe, unpredictable tone. The sequel could have been too staid a project for his screen persona, althoughThe Godfather Part II’s villainsare arguably as nasty as any of the antagonists from Scorsese’s back catalog.
Why Fredo Betrayed Michael In The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II’s ending centers on the tragic fallout of Fredo betraying Michael Corleone, but why did Fredo almost get his brother killed?
In a 2024 interview withDeadline, Scorsese candidly admitted that he couldn’t envision himself making such a mature movie at a time when he still felt like an edgy young Enfant terrible. Per the director, “I don’t think I could have made a film on that level at that time in my life, and who I was at that time. To make a film as elegant and masterful and as historically important as Godfather II, I don’t think… Now, I would’ve made something interesting, but his maturity was already there. I still had this kind of edgy thing, the wild kid running around.”
Would Martin Scorsese Directing The Godfather Part II Have Worked?
Scorsese’s Take On The Godfather Part II Would Have Been Very Different
Scorsese is clearly an astounding director, but he was comparatively brand new to the craft when Coppola put his name out for an incredibly expensive, complex movie. Scorsese wouldn’t have the experience of making such an epic big-budget affair for some years, and 1977’s divisive musicalNew York, New Yorkarguably proves that he was still unprepared for a project of such scale and ambition even later that decade.
Scorsese’s mob movies arguably act as a riposte to the glamorous vision of mob life in the upper echelons depicted byThe Godfather.
Since Scorsese himself concedes he probably didn’t have the same filmmaking maturity as Coppola, and notes later in the interview that his work mostly focuses on the street-level element of gangsters,Scorsese’s version ofThe Godfather Part IIwould have felt profoundly different. With their foul-mouthed protagonists and constant injections of violence and hard drug use, Scorsese’s mob movies arguably act as a riposte to the glamorous vision of mob life in the upper echelons depicted byThe Godfather. As such, Martin Scorsese’s take onThe Godfather Part IIcould have inadvertently deconstructed Francis Ford Coppola’s original movie.
