Q 01/05

Who directed The Godfather (1972)?

A) Martin Scorsese

B) Francis Ford Coppola

C) Sidney Lumet

D) Elia Kazan

Answer · why

B) Francis Ford Coppola

He initially turned it down as sleazy; debts from THX 1138 changed his mind, and Evans later tried to have Kazan replace him.

Q 02/05

Who wrote the 1969 novel on which the film is based?

A) Nicholas Pileggi

B) Gay Talese

C) Jimmy Breslin

D) Mario Puzo

Answer · why

D) Mario Puzo

He was paid $80,000 for the rights and, by his own account, needed $10,000 urgently to pay off gambling debts.

Q 03/05

Who plays Don Vito Corleone?

A) Laurence Olivier

B) Marlon Brando

C) Ernest Borgnine

D) Orson Welles

Answer · why

B) Marlon Brando

Paramount resisted him; Coppola snuck a screen test, in which Brando stuffed his cheeks with tissue, into the middle of a pile of audition tapes.

Q 04/05

Which actor did Paramount want for Michael Corleone before settling on Al Pacino?

A) Dustin Hoffman

B) Robert Redford

C) Gene Hackman

D) Peter Fonda

Answer · why

B) Robert Redford

Warren Beatty, Alain Delon and Ryan O'Neal were also floated; Jack Nicholson turned it down saying an Italian-American should play it.

Q 05/05

Which film convinced Evans and Ruddy to accept Pacino as Michael, if James Caan played Sonny?

A) Me, Natalie

B) Scarecrow

C) The Panic in Needle Park

D) The Indian Wants the Bronx

Answer · why

C) The Panic in Needle Park

Caan replaced Carmine Caridi, who had already been cast, partly because he was several inches shorter and better matched Pacino.