10 Astonishing Things You Didn't Know About Iconic Movie Scenes

3. Francis Ford Coppola Found Don Vito's Cat On The Paramount Lot And Put It In The Movie On A Whim - The Godfather

Don Vito The Godfather
Paramount Pictures

It's strange how some things that end up being incredibly iconic stem from moments that - at the time, anyway - occurred on a whim.

The opening scene of The Godfather featuring Don Vito Corleone and his feline friend has become one of its most memorable, and yet the original script never called for it at all. In fact, it only ever occurred because of a last minute change.

Francis Ford Coppola apparently stumbled upon the cat whilst wandering around the Paramount studio lot - when it wandered onto the scene, Coppola let it roam about and it proceeded to jump up onto Brando's lap whilst he read his lines - from prompt cards - and the rest is history.

Lots of Brando dialogue had to be re-dubbed, however, because the cat was purring so hard that it ruined most of the takes.

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