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Can you imagine watching The Godfather Part II without Robert De Niro as Vito Corleone? Corleone’s performance became one of the biggest highlights of the era. But you’ll be surprised to know that De Niro was almost joining The Godfather franchise for a completely different role.
Yes, De Niro was initially offered a role in The Godfather II that wasn’t even among the film’s major characters. At that time, De Niro was in the middle of building his career with movies like Mean Streets, so when the offer for the Godfather role came, he could have been tempted.
But seeing how small the role was, he instead took a much bigger role in the crime comedy The Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight. The film flopped, but his decision to turn down The Godfather franchise definitely didn’t backfire.
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Robert De Niro Almost Played The Role Of An Antagonist In ‘The Godfather II’
Most Godfather fans know that Robert De Niro once auditioned to play Sonny Corleone, Vito’s eldest son with obvious anger issues. And, according to Coppola’s Megapolis premiere Q&A, De Niro had delivered an “unforgettable audition for Sonny Corleone.”
However, the role eventually went to James Caan, and his fiery performance became one of the major highlights of the 1972 film. But De Niro’s audition didn’t go unnoticed as well. Coppola revealed, sharing footage of the audition, that he had offered the actor the role of Paulie Gatto.
If you have watched The Godfather Part II, you’d know that Paulie was a soldier working for the Corleone family who secretly betrayed Vito Corleone by calling in sick on the day he was supposed to protect him.
How De Niro’s Career Took A Major Turn With The Godfather Part II
After two years of denying the initial offer to join the franchise, Robert De Niro stepped into the shoes of Marlon Brando as a younger Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II. The sequel gave him the opportunity to play the transformation from an orphaned immigrant to a powerful mob boss.
While we loved Al Pacino’s cold and ruthless side as Michael Corleone in The Godfather, De Niro brought a lot of warmth to his character. Just imagine if he took the role of Paulie; we might never have loved Vito’s character so much.
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