The Sequel That Almost Was Not
The Godfather Part II was written before the first film opened and survived rewrites, no-shows and studio resistance to become a landmark.
Francis Ford Coppola, Director — Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Where to watch The Godfather Part II ↓Writing Before the First Cut
Mario Puzo started the sequel script in December 1971, a startlingly early move that came before the original Godfather had even been released. The draft he delivered was first imagined under the bleak working title 'The Death of Michael Corleone'. The material was shaky enough that Al Pacino nearly walked away after his lawyers objected to the quality of the Puzo script, forcing Francis Ford Coppola to spend an entire night rewriting it to keep his star on board.
A Title Paramount Feared
Studio nerves were high from the start. Paramount initially opposed using a numbered sequel, fearing audiences would reject a film branded 'Part II', and The Godfather Part II became the first major American motion picture to do so. The resistance extended to the director chair, where Coppola had considered Martin Scorsese for the job before Paramount blocked the idea.
The original screenplay of The Godfather Part II in the National Museum of the Cinema in Turin, Italy. — Eippol, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Casting by Negotiation and No-Show
The cast assembled under unusual pressure. Marlon Brando had agreed to return for a birthday flashback sequence, then failed to show up, leaving Coppola to rewrite the scene the same day. James Caan, meanwhile, leveraged his return for a single flashback into a pay parity deal, negotiating to be paid the same amount for that one appearance as he had received for his entire role in the first film.
Shooting on Borrowed Ground
Production found itself shaped by corporate ambition as much as story. The Cuban scenes were shot in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, a location choice driven by the interest of Paramount owner Charles Bluhdorn in developing the island as a movie production hub. Technically the film marked an end point, being the last major American motion picture to use Technicolor dye imbibition process for release prints until the late 1990s.
The Disaster Prediction
Just three weeks before release, film critics were predicting a disaster, pointing to the excessive crosscutting between the parallel Vito and Michael storylines as a fatal flaw. The dire forecasts became part of the film legend, even as the movie headed into theaters.