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The Godfather Part II begins in Sicily, with the murder of Vito Corleone’s father, mother and elder brother by a local mafia don. In many ways, the film is even better than its predecessor, and marks the height of auteur-driven New-Hollywood cinema of the 1970s. And De Niro's replacements worked out really well.Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II(1974), starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton and Lee Strasberg, is an extraordinary continuation to the director’s magnum opus, The Godfather(1972). There are tons of such surprise casting changes which has led to critically acclaimed performances from the other actors.
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The two roles that De Niro never got a chance to play turned highly fruitful for De Niro himself and luckily for Hanks. Notably, De Niro competed at the Golden Globes that year against Hanks, being nominated for his role in Midnight Run. The film's success launched Hanks' as a reliable and profitable actor, eventually leading him to star in projects such as Apollo 13, Philadelphia, and Forrest Gump. For playing Josh in the film, Hanks received his first Academy Award nomination in the Best Actor category, while winning Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Musical or Comedy. Hanks, though a successful actor, was yet to have his big hit in the industry when Big came along. On the other hand, passing on the role of Josh in Big gave Hollywood another star in Tom Hanks. From thereon, De Niro went on to star in a number of blockbusters leads such as Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, and Raging Bull. If he'd played Sonny in the first film, he would've never gotten a chance to play Vito in the second. For his performance, De Niro received huge applause and acclaim, leading to his first Academy Award win in the Best Actor category.
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Though Caan was nominated for an Oscar in his role as Sonny, his character was killed off in the first film.ĭe Niro went on to play Vito Corleone, a younger version of the character Marlon Brando played in the first film. Firstly, losing on the role of Sonny Corleone to James Caan allowed De Niro to be cast in a lead for the second film of the famous Godfather Trilogy. Well, the audience wouldn't disagree with it because both the scenarios turned in huge favors for De Niro's career. But we had a thing - an issue with the negotiations, so it went the way it went. This one was probably a shocking one for some as De Niro confirmed this myth as true as well, saying, Moving further, Fallon called for a myth, per which, De Niro was the original choice for the role of Josh in the 1988 hit comedy Big, a role which Tom Hanks eventually took. Jimmy Fallon even surprised the audience and the viewers with a small clip from the original audition De Niro gave for the part of Sonny Corleone.
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But I think Francis was pretty set on Jimmy Caan too. And then - but I wanted to do the Sonny part too and I read for it. Everybody was up for Michael, but everyone knew Al was gonna do it, that Francis wanted him. Replying in confirmation of the rumor, De Niro replied with this. After discussing the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, which De Niro is a founder of, Fallon asked the veteran actor to answer a few questions in True or False to make the interview interesting.įallon opened up with the question concerning De Niro's involvement in the first Godfather film, alleging that De Niro auditioned for the role of Sonny Corleone, a role which eventually went to James Caan. The revelations were a part of the True/False game Fallon had designed to converse with Robert De Niro, who was present via video conference in front of the first live audience taping in over a year (the pandemic had earlier restricted gathering of audiences in such shows).