Hollywood may be obsessed with movie musical biopics in recent years, but a new biopic is in development that has a fascinating twist: a movie about the making of a movie.
Francis and the Godfather is set to be a drama about the infamous behind-the-scenes battles that unfolded during in the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 masterpiece The Godfather. The project has cast its Coppola, with Deadline reporting that Oscar Isaac has nabbed that role. Meanwhile, Jake Gyllenhaal is set to play studio exec and producer Robert Evans. Barry Levinson will direct, working off a Black List script by Andrew Farotte that Levinson revamped. Echo Lake Entertainment’s Mike Marcus, Doug Mankoff and Andrew Spaulding will produce alongside Kevin Turen, Jon Levin and Jason Sosnoff for Baltimore Pictures.
The Godfather is considered a quintessential American masterpiece and arguably the best example of the New Hollywood wave that peaked in the 1970s. It was nominated for eleven Oscars, winning three, including Best Picture, and won five Golden Globes. It was also a box office success with its initial run earning almost $244 million on a $6 million budget thanks to rave critical reviews and great word-of-mouth. Further, it launched the career of Al Pacino in his breakout role as Michael Corleone and reinvigorated the career of the aging Marlon Brando.
But The Godfather was absolutely plagued with controversy, in-fighting and challenges from the start, from the then-young and untested Coppola fighting with Paramount over casting to pressure from Mafia mobsters who felt the movie portrayed Italian-Americans in a negative light. “Out of the madness of production, and against all odds, a classic film happened,” as Levinson described it. The stories from the making of the movie have become almost as legendary as the film itself in Hollywood circles.
It will be interesting to see how Francis and the Godfather approaches those stories and how it portrays the people involved, particularly as a few of them, like Coppola, are still powerful forces in the movie industry. But Coppola appears to be on board with the project, particularly Levinson directing, saying, “Any movie that Barry Levinson makes about anything, will be interesting and worthwhile!” Levinson’s impressive directing resume includes films like The Natural, Good Morning, Vietnam and Rain Man.
Said Mike Marcus of Coppola’s fight to maintain his uncompromised vision, “Here was a young man who lived outside the system and every step of the way the system was telling him, ‘You can’t do that.’ But Francis never gave up on his vision and the result speaks for itself.”
There is not yet a release date for the film.
