10 Actors Who Didn't Realise They Were Auditioning For Movie Roles

10. Robert De Niro Landed Role After Godfather Failure And Work On Mean Streets - The Godfather: Part II

It's been pretty well documented how just about every single talented star working in the business at the time found themselves in the running to form part of Francis Ford Coppola's star-studded cast in the lead-up to the first Godfather flick.

And amongst said unsuccessful but no less gifted thespians who just failed to make the Corleone cut on the first time of asking was none other than Robert De Niro.

That being said, the eventual Raging Bull titan did actually land the small role of Paulie Gatto in that first Godfather flick before having to back out due to his commitments to The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. But his auditions and work still more than made an impression on Coppola.

Said auditions for The Godfather, including a failed read for the part of Sonny Corleone, coupled with his impressive work on Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets were enough to secure De Niro the role of a young Vito Corleone in the highly anticipated Part II of the series later down the road. And it wasn't long before Bob was bringing home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, for good measure.