Francis Ford Coppola

And I was told categorically by the president of Paramount, Francis, as the president of Paramount Pictures, I tell you here and now, Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture, and I forbid you to bring it up again.

Well, when he said, I forbid you to bring it up again, I, like, feigned that I just fell on the floor on the carpet and, like, you know, as if, you know, what. And then I said, what am I supposed to do? If you tell me I can't even discuss it, how can I be a director if the part I think should be cast that you won't even let me talk about it? And they said, all right, we'll tell you it this way.

Well, when he said, I forbid you to bring it up again, I, like, feigned that I just fell on the floor on the carpet and, like, you know, as if, you know, what. And then I said, what am I supposed to do? If you tell me I can't even discuss it, how can I be a director if the part I think should be cast that you won't even let me talk about it? And they said, all right, we'll tell you it this way.

Well, when he said, I forbid you to bring it up again, I, like, feigned that I just fell on the floor on the carpet and, like, you know, as if, you know, what. And then I said, what am I supposed to do? If you tell me I can't even discuss it, how can I be a director if the part I think should be cast that you won't even let me talk about it? And they said, all right, we'll tell you it this way.

One, if he will do the movie for free. Two, if he will put up, well, if he'll do a screen test. And three, if he'll put up a million dollar bond that he will in no way have any misbehavior that causes the, you know, the overrun of the picture budget, then you can do it. So I said, I accept.

One, if he will do the movie for free. Two, if he will put up, well, if he'll do a screen test. And three, if he'll put up a million dollar bond that he will in no way have any misbehavior that causes the, you know, the overrun of the picture budget, then you can do it. So I said, I accept.

One, if he will do the movie for free. Two, if he will put up, well, if he'll do a screen test. And three, if he'll put up a million dollar bond that he will in no way have any misbehavior that causes the, you know, the overrun of the picture budget, then you can do it. So I said, I accept.

So at least they were saying if I did three things, have a screen test, if I could get him to do the movie for nothing, and if I could have him put up a million dollars, which is absurd. But at least I said I accept, meaning, okay, now I can talk about it.

So at least they were saying if I did three things, have a screen test, if I could get him to do the movie for nothing, and if I could have him put up a million dollars, which is absurd. But at least I said I accept, meaning, okay, now I can talk about it.

So at least they were saying if I did three things, have a screen test, if I could get him to do the movie for nothing, and if I could have him put up a million dollars, which is absurd. But at least I said I accept, meaning, okay, now I can talk about it.

No, I called him up and I said to Marlon, Marlon, you know, of course this is an Italian-American, you know, wouldn't it be fun if we could like do a little experiment and kind of improv and see what playing in Italian might be like? That was my way to talk to an actor essentially asking for a screen test, but I didn't put it in those ways.

No, I called him up and I said to Marlon, Marlon, you know, of course this is an Italian-American, you know, wouldn't it be fun if we could like do a little experiment and kind of improv and see what playing in Italian might be like? That was my way to talk to an actor essentially asking for a screen test, but I didn't put it in those ways.

No, I called him up and I said to Marlon, Marlon, you know, of course this is an Italian-American, you know, wouldn't it be fun if we could like do a little experiment and kind of improv and see what playing in Italian might be like? That was my way to talk to an actor essentially asking for a screen test, but I didn't put it in those ways.

And I knew that if I could do something with this little screen test that was convincing, the absurd idea of him doing it for nothing, although they didn't pay him much more than nothing. I think they paid him scale, which was an insult. And obviously putting up a bond to prevent misbehavior was, you know. Sometimes, you know, you say you accept terms meaning that you just have a way to continue.

And I knew that if I could do something with this little screen test that was convincing, the absurd idea of him doing it for nothing, although they didn't pay him much more than nothing. I think they paid him scale, which was an insult. And obviously putting up a bond to prevent misbehavior was, you know. Sometimes, you know, you say you accept terms meaning that you just have a way to continue.

And I knew that if I could do something with this little screen test that was convincing, the absurd idea of him doing it for nothing, although they didn't pay him much more than nothing. I think they paid him scale, which was an insult. And obviously putting up a bond to prevent misbehavior was, you know. Sometimes, you know, you say you accept terms meaning that you just have a way to continue.

Yeah. The important thing was to do some sort of a little screen test that I could get on tape and show to all these executives.

Yeah. The important thing was to do some sort of a little screen test that I could get on tape and show to all these executives.

Yeah. The important thing was to do some sort of a little screen test that I could get on tape and show to all these executives.

Well, I'd always heard the rumor that Marlon Brando didn't like loud noises and he always wore things in his ears. So I took a couple of my colleagues from San Francisco from this period of, you know, having young filmmakers all have a... And I told them all to dress in black and no one was to speak. We would do sign language. And so we descended on Marlon's house early in the morning.