20 Things You Probably Didn't Know About The Godfather
13. The Studio Tried To Fire The Director
Not only is The Godfather often credited as the greatest movie ever, it helped seal Francis Ford Coppola's reputation as a visionary director. But during filming, Paramount had almost nothing good to say about the filmmaker.
When senior management had a look at the rushes, they felt Coppola wasn't up to the task to make a competent film. They were also worried the story wasn't violent enough (which is pretty weird since The Godfather is ASTOUNDINGLY gory, even by today's standards). Early in production, the studio strongly considered have Coppola replaced with the legendary Elia Kazan.
But because Kazan deliberately destroyed the careers of several actors during the 1950s (long story), Marlon Brando said he would never work with the filmmaker under any circumstances. When the studio realised Brando would quit the production to avoid working with Kazan, they decided to leave Coppola alone.