Where to watch Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Trivia & production notes

• Sergio Leone turned down Paramount Pictures' offer to direct The Godfather in order to pursue Once Upon a Time in America as part of his American trilogy.
• The novel The Hoods was based on the true account of Harry Goldberg, a former gangster who became an informant and wrote under the pseudonym Harry Grey.
• Leone met with author Harry Grey multiple times throughout the late 1960s and 1970s to better understand America from Grey's perspective before developing the script.
• Norman Mailer was hired to write the script but Leone rejected his work, describing it as a Mickey Mouse version of the novel that lacked structure and made no sense.
• Ennio Morricone composed all the main musical themes for the film as early as 1976, years before shooting began.
• Robert De Niro was offered his choice of either the Noodles or Max role, and his commitment to the project proved essential for securing the film's financing.
• Approximately 200 actors were auditioned for the role of Max before a final choice was made.
• Elizabeth McGovern was cast as Deborah against De Niro's preference for a New York native with a Brooklyn accent, because Leone admired her performance in Ragtime.
• Leone instructed casting director Cis Corman to cast children who were actual New York residents from Jewish neighborhoods with no prior acting experience rather than established child actors.
• The IATSE labor union protested Leone's use of a foreign crew during New York filming with such vigor that President Ronald Reagan ordered a Department of Labor investigation into the matter.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Once Upon a Time in America, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.