10 Movie Roles Obviously Designed For Other Actors

The Godfather Part III is over thirty years old now, and a lot of critical narratives have grown up around the movie. You know them by heart: it was too rushed; there wasn't a story; writer/director Francis Ford Coppola did it purely for the money; it just didn't live up to the quality established by the first two movies.

One thing almost everyone agrees on is that Sofia Coppola, the director's daughter, was a disastrous choice to play pivotal plot point Mary Corleone, the daughter of the trilogy's protagonist, mafia don Michael Corleone. The critics savaged her performance in a way that felt almost personal: she was vacant and wooden; she didn’t know how to perform on camera; her line delivery was childish.

Of course, Coppola hadn't intended to cast Sofia. He hadn’t even intended to make the film, but (to steal a phrase) had been made an offer he couldn't refuse, which meant he had little choice over the accelerated schedule either: twenty months to go from a blank page to the premiere.

Coppola drew the best possible cast and crew around him. No one could say no to the Godfather - and that included Winona Ryder, perfectly cast as Mary Corleone. That is until, having filmed three movies back-to-back, she pulled out due to nervous exhaustion, a day before she was due to begin filming.

Coppola didn't have anyone else except Sofia he could bring in to play Mary at such short notice, and he couldn't rework the schedule - he was already pushed for time. That, in turn, led to one of the most notorious miscast roles in cinema history, one he’s regretted for thirty years.