Dan Fogler & Patrick Gallo Interview: The Offer | Screen Rant
Paramount+ dives deep into cinematic history with The Offer, which lays bare the creative process behind one of the greatest movies ever made: The Godfather. Hollywood celebrates the film's 50th anniversary by gathering together some of today's brightest stars to recount the story of how America's most beloved mobster move almost didn't get made. With the first three episodes aired, it's already the talk of the town.
The stellar cast is made up of Miles Teller (Top Gun: Maverick) as super producer Albert Ruddy, Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar 2) as real-life mafia boss Joe Colombo, Patrick Gallo (The Irishman) as original author Mario Puzo, and Dan Fogler (The Walking Dead) as Coppola himself. There are many more behind the scenes players who make an appearance, all leading to the same inevitable conclusion: the true story of the Godfather is almost as incredible as its fiction.
Fogler and Gallo spoke to Screen Rant about which bits of film lore were more surprising to them, and why they have so much respect for Coppola.
Screen Rant: There's a lot of never-before-heard stories here. What surprised you the most when you found out this actually happened?
Patrick Gallo: For some reason, I wasn't that aware of how Francis didn't want to be a part of the project. [He] didn't love the book, didn't really want to do it, and was kind of pushed into it by George Lucas, you know what I mean? For Zoetrope, and to kind of fund the rest of their careers.
I wasn't super aware of that, and I think it's a really cool dynamic, as sort of the catalyst to how this incredible journey began. Which is, "I didn't want to do it, but I'll do it," and now it's the greatest American film ever made. That's a pretty cool thing.
Dan Fogler: I was amazed too. I know it was hard for them to get this film made, but I didn't realize how difficult. Like Patrick said, this is the greatest movie in the world that everyone loves, that almost didn't get made every day. So many people were gunning for it not to get made.
But what I love about it is, they wanted to get rid of Francis because he wasn't an action director, and then he's like, "Well, no. Let me prove you wrong." From that pressure, let me create some of the greatest action scenes in film history where Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey, and Sonny at the toll booth. These are some of the greatest action sequences ever. I love how Francis was 30, trying to prove everybody wrong. It takes a lot of passion and a lot of fortitude of spirit, and it's really lovely to play a character like that, who just won't give up.
Did you have a chance to like chat with him?
Dan Fogler: I wish. I mean, I tried. I spoke to people in his family. I did a movie with Robert Schwartzman, who's his nephew, so he gave me an inside scoop about a lot of stuff. He got me connected to some closer family members who want to remain off the record, but I wish I talked to him.
But once we started shooting, I was like, "You know what? Let me just do it, and let him just see what we come up with." And hopefully, he gives us the stamp of approval.
After ditching his job at the Rand Corporation for a shot in Hollywood, Al Ruddy wins the job to produce Mario Puzo’s bestselling novel, The Godfather, for Paramount Pictures. Joe Colombo, a rising crime boss in the New York City Mafia, has a darker fate in mind for the picture.
Check out our interview with stars Burn Gorman, Matthew Goode & Colin Hanks and with Giovanni Ribisi as well.
The Offer episodes 1 - 3 are now streaming on Paramount+, with new episodes dropping every Thursday.