Why Paramount Didn’t Want To Cast Marlon Brando In His Oscar-Winning The Godfather Role

It’s hard to believe that at one point Paramount didn’t want to cast Marlon Brando in his Oscar-winning role in The Godfather. In what has become a career-defining performance amidst a legacy of terrific roles, Brando played Vito Corleone, the patriarch and don of the Corleone crime family. His story, (also outlined in flashbacks with Robert DeNiro as a young Vito Corleone), not only shapes the narrative of Francis Ford Coppola’s drama but its subsequent sequels, with the don’s decisions casting a long shadow over the saga of the next generation and beyond.