The Godfather celebrates its 50th Anniversary with the trilogy's first ever 4K Ultra HD release on March 22, 2022. To reflect on the iconic movies Screen Rant spoke with tar Talia Shire, Connie Corleone, daughter of Vito Corleone played by Marlon Brando about the heat her brother Francis Ford Coppola was taking from the studio and how she landed the role of Connie.
Shire also shares her thoughts on if The Godfather should ever be remade and the transformation Marlon Brando went through for his iconic role.
Screen Rant: The first question for you is, The Godfather is the ultimate cinematic phenomenon. At what point during filming, while in theaters, or years later, did you realize that this classic would be revered and talked about for many decades to come?
Talia Shire: It's a fascinating question because obviously when it opened, it became that big, what we'll call box office hit. But to know that it would continue on and has continued on fills me with awe and pride because I always believed it was a masterwork, and in fact it is.
I couldn't agree with you more. Now, I know originally Francis thought you were too pretty for the role. Did you have to audition for The Godfather, or did Francis just cast you in the role of Connie?
Talia Shire:Â Oh no. Let me give it a little context. Actors have to audition, and audition is a whole different technique than preparing a role, actually. I couldn't audition, I was bad at it and I still am, so I just asked Francis, could he give me an audition? The first time was, "No, you're not right for the part." The second time, a month later, he said, "Come on and audition for it," and I was grateful just for the audition. I used Shire as the name. Most people didn't know I was his sister and didn't know, by the way, for many years after I did that movie. I think we all know this, that Francis' job as director was tenuous at best and having a sister really on that movie set was not easy for him.
Absolutely. Right. I just wanted to follow up on that just for a second. You used your married name, as you just stated. Was that due to the political issues at the studio at the time, or just taking the pressure off of Francis?
Talia Shire: To take the pressure off of Francis and to take the pressure off of me in terms of how you auditioned because, as I said, I'm not very good at it. I'm still not very good at it. I could just go and be one more actor. That day that we did all those auditions in New York, that place was loaded with some of the most extraordinary actors, so I was just one more actor and my partner was a wonderful, wonderful actor named John Ryan. You're as good as your partner sometimes, and he was terrific.
That's amazing. What did you want to bring to the role of Connie that wasn't necessarily on the page?
Talia Shire: It's all on the page. And certainly Mario Puzo. By the way, Francis and Mario became great, good friends and were fabulous collaborators together. I think when you play a character, you always bring the potential of what they could have been. Maybe they're not, but what they could have been. I think Connie was a powerful person in her own right, but she was spoiled and she was abused at the same time, so she can't quite ever be who she is. It's not permitted, and you feel her tragedy. You feel that tragedy in her. I wanted to highlight that, not make her pathetic, that tragedy of what she could have been.
I find the story of the making of The Godfather almost just as fascinating as the film. Can you talk to me about working with Marlon Brando on set? You hear so many of these stories, and I feel like now they become so many legends, but can you just talk to me about working with him on set?
Talia Shire: Well, for us as actors, for anybody, any person, even today, he's a legend because he's great. He's a great artist, and you could go back and look at his work and you go, "Gee whiz." And he was great on stage. We can't ever forget that this was a very well-trained actor. What is often forgotten is he came to the set as a 46-year-old handsome, incredibly handsome-looking man, straight out of being a little older than Stanley, that look in A Streetcar Named Desire.
That's how he came to the set, and then he began that transformation. So for all of us watching him, what you saw was a great, great character actor entering into this role, and that was a marvel.
Obviously, The Godfather is a masterpiece. I just got to ask you, can you talk to me about the collaboration process, working with Francis as your brother and director?
Talia Shire: Amazing. We meet each other, obviously, with our childhood memories, with our childhood dreams, and our childhood was filled with the love of art and beauty and theater. That might have been some commonplace. And also, we had from our father, who was a great musician, the sense of discipline and being a professional and what that meant. There's no screwing around if you're a musician. So we met each other as professionals, and that's a joy.
I have to say, collaborators, and Francis is a great collaborator on all the craft levels with his scenic designer and his costume designer, and he acts with the other actors. He absolutely does.
The Godfather is obviously one of the biggest films in the world of all time. Are there any other crime family dramas on the big or small screen that you've enjoyed in recent years?
Talia Shire: I'm a film buff. I've seen all the early Jimmy Cagney stuff. I like to look at old Paul Muni. They're fascinating. George Raft, even. People who are forced, or participate in the world of shadows.
I hate to tell you, but I love musicals. I tend to move into that area more than any other, in terms of movies. Silent movies, Buster Keaton, The Red Shoes, Singing in the Rain, and The Godfathers. And Rocky, too. Yeah.
I love your cinematic taste, by the way. Let me ask you this because The Godfather is held in such reverence and it's obviously a classic. We live in a world where there are so many remakes and reboots. Do you think that The Godfather's ever going to get remade by some new director at some point down the line?
Talia Shire: That would be like saying, "Yes, we're going to redo the Sistine Chapel ceiling." You can't. You can't because any really great work of art changes the person who is perceiving it. Why would anybody ever want to give up that? That's what I feel. And I think the powers that be and maybe won't touch that.
I certainly hope you're right about that. The last question I have for you is, you're perhaps most well-known for Connie and Adrian. They're both obviously different characters, but which character do you find yourself closely relating to?
Talia Shire: Oh, well, you're always close to the character you're playing because you become so intimate in that, for a character actor, as you create the character, for me, it's sort of at arm's length, your search for behavior. And then there's a kind of irresistible need to play that character, so playing a character also changes the actor. I love them both. I love that Connie has this great transformation. I love that in the beginning, at first, Adrian... I really have that. I was that shy girl. That was very freeing for me, but I think the character changes the actor. You could see that with Al Pacino. He's that kind of shy Michael, but there's a moment when you see him assume the role.
The Godfather Trilogy is available on 4K Ultra HD for the first time ever on March 22, 2022.