10 Real Reasons Movie Characters Seemed So Sinister
2. Marlon Brando's Eyes Were Lit In Shadow To Conceal His Emotions - The Godfather
Our third and final Francis Ford Coppola film is his inimitable masterpiece The Godfather, which once again saw Coppola teaming up with a venerable cinematographer to create a palpable unease in viewers.
In this case DP Gordon Willis decided to conceal Don Corleone's (Marlon Brando) eyes in shadow in many scenes that were of a contemplative nature, giving him an ambiguous appearance as his subtle emotions weren't visible to the audience through his eyes.
Willis himself admits the approach was divisive at the time, albeit ultimately effective:
"I got a lot of criticism... because they said, 'Well, you can't see Brando's eyes.' You saw this mysterious human being thinking about something, or about to do something, but you didn't really know what the hell was going on."
It's a simple and subtle yet ingenious technique to keep Vito quite literally in the dark from audiences during certain scenes.