The friendship between Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas goes back decades, to when they were both relatively unknown filmmakers in Northern California. Coppola served as executive producer on THX 1138, Lucas’ first film, and the year after it was finished, Lucas worked as an assistant on The Godfather. Lucas shot the footage of newspaper inserts that show major events during the scenes where the families go to the mattresses as well as the one above, which reveals to Michael the shooting of his father. But perhaps his biggest contribution to the film was a small suggestion he made to Coppola. After filming the scene in which Michael fends off would-be assassins while the don is in the hospital, Coppola realized he didn’t have extra shots to feature the sound of footsteps in the hallways. So Lucas suggested that he use the leftover shots of empty hallways just after the actors had left the frame. Lucas helped Coppola scour his original footage for those precious few seconds, which Coppola used in the film, greatly adding to the tension of an already white-knuckle scene.
The Anniversary You Can’t Refuse: 40 Things You Didn’t Know About The Godfather
On March 15, 1972, The Godfather hit movie screens. In the four decades since, it has become acknowledged as one of the greatest movies of all time. TIME has compiled the most interesting stories, anecdotes and tidbits from the film's production
George Lucas Shot Some Footage
Full List
The Corleones at 40
- The Cat
- George Lucas Shot Some Footage
- That Opening Shot
- The Alternate Ending
- It Was Initially Set in the 1970s
- The Horse Head
- Coppola Wasn’t the First Choice
- There Was Originally a Different First Scene
- Very Few People Wanted Al Pacino for Michael
- Burt Lancaster as the Don?
- Brando Was Almost a No-Go
- Until His Incredible Screen Test
- Who Is This Coppola Guy?
- A Palace Coup
- The Prince of Darkness
- There Are Very Few Unorthodox Camera Shots
- Kay and the Wig
- Brando and the Cue Cards
- Pacino Hurt Himself Early in the Shoot
- Everyone Wanted to Know What Brando Looked like as the Don
- Luca Brasi Fumbles His Lines
- Lots of Bare Butt Cheeks
- What’s with All the Oranges?
- Marlon Brando Was a Real Prankster
- Luca Brasi Was a Pro at Dying
- Offensive to Italians?
- What’s the Mob?
- The Succession Scene Needed a Major Rewrite
- Death by a Thousand Bullets
- A Too-Realistic Fight
- Sofia Coppola Played a Boy
- The Baptism Montage
- Deleted Scene No. 1: Michael Shoots His Wife’s Killer
- Going to See Genco in the Hospital
- The Problem with Sinatra
- Vic Damone Was Almost Johnny Fontane
- The Film Was a Family Affair
- The Score Was Honored (and Then Rejected) by the Oscars
- Each of the Main Male Actors Got Oscar Noms
- Ushering in the Age of the Modern Blockbuster