An Offer Elle Couldn't Refuse
Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 5:10PM by Jason Adams
Have you been keeping up with the movie about the making of The Godfather? It was announced last September that Jake Gyllenhaal will be playing the infamous producer Robert Evans while Oscar Isaac will be director Francis Ford Coppola in Francis and the Godfather, with Barry Levinson directing the thing. My ears, eyes, and everythings perked right up, and so I have been paying close attention ever since and now there's more casting news...
In February we heard that Elisabeth Moss was playing Oscar/Francis' wife, Eleanor Coppola, and today comes the other leg of our foursome -- Elle Fanning will be playing Love Story actress and 70s icon Ali MacGraw, who was married to Evans at the time.
That is a crazy pool of talent playing a crazy pool of talent, and I am riding hard for this thing right out the gate. Movies about the making of movies have a treachorous path to walk -- they can be too inside baseball for the non-nerds, or they can just become a parade of cameos with modern faces doing impersonations of classic ones. On that note I find it interesting that nobody "in front of the camera" has been cast yet; I mean who the hell would you cast as Diane Keaton? The mind reels. Obviously this is me baiting y'all -- let's hear your casting ideas for the cast of The Godfather in the comments! Is Tom Hardy for Brando too obvious?
Reader Comments (20)
Casey Aflleck as Brando
Natalie Portman as Keaton
Timothee Chalamet as Cazale
Scott Caan as Caan
Sam Rockwell as Duvall
Luca Marinelli as Pacino
I think Elle Fanning would make a great Diane Keaton. Julia Roberts from the 90s would be a good option as Ali MacGraw.
Interesting piece of imdb trivia:
Paramount Production head Robert Evans was developing several high profile projects for her when she filed for divorce. The roles she walked away from to marry lover Steve McQueen were Daisy in The Great Gatsby (1974) and Evelyn in Chinatown (1974).
The world would be very different from what it is today.
The Robert Evans-Ali MacGraw-Steve McQueen affair would make a great series or movie too.
What do people think of Ali MacGraw? She's one of those known entities that are completely unknown to me.
Wish Sofia Coppola could do something in this project to redeem her acting legacy...
Like Prajhan, I thought of Fanning for Keaton when I saw the article.
Brando: Jeremy Renner
Caan: Miles Teller
Pacino: Chalamet
Cazale: Shia LaBeouf
Keaton: Saoirse Ronan
Shire: Hailee Steinfeld
Duvall: Jesse Plemons
Honestly? Dave Franco as Brando (hey, he's played him before!) and Greta Gerwig as Keaton.
Elisabeth Moss would be a better Diane Keaton. But if not her, Amanda Seyfried. Brad Pitt as Brando. Can Riz Ahmed play Italian? Cause Cazale has a look and he could fit it.
I can't think of aynone less Ali MacGraw than Elle Fannning.
Odessa Young from Shirley would make a fine Diane Keaton
I'd be on board with this. Sofia should stick to directing which is her greatest strength. Plus, she's a better filmmaker than her dad.
Apart from (maybe) Oscar Isaac as Coppola, none of this casting works.
Peggy Sue, just tan the skinny white bitch. Close enough *shrugs*
@Peggye Sue: Ditto!
I think that bit of casting for Ali is off the mark,why not cast an actress who most closely resembles Ali.
Yeah, Fanning looks nothing like McGraw but let's see.
For Diane Keaton I immediately thought about Vanessa Bayer who was great as Keaton is SNL's skit about unknown Bond girls. :)
This is a terrible idea, and I want this to go away.
Also the suggestions above show just why this is a minefield.
If Ali MacGraw and Eleanor Coppola are prominent enough in the film to be played by Fanning and Moss, you could expect Woody Allen to show up as well. He and Keaton had a lot to talk about during production (like Pacino and Sleeper).
Barry Levinson hasn't directed a good movie since Wag the Dog, and I doubt this will be a return to form. This casting in particular is inexplicable.
Ali was a horrible actress. How she was ever nominated for Love Story is beyond me. Worst nom ever.