The Offer episode 4 review: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino’s casting for The Godfather came at some personal cost

While the troubles the makers of The Godfather went through for casting Marlon Brando as The Don are known, the fourth episode gives a deeper look into what toll this took in the life of producer Al Ruddy.

The Offer Season 1

Story: The first three episodes of The Offer give the viewers a more detailed look into how Al Ruddy left his boring desk job to take up the mantle to produce The Godfather. They also showed the troubles from the mafia and the rifts within the studio, while the fourth episode is dedicated to the casting of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. 

Review: Francis Ford Coppola, the president of Paramount back then, had once said in an interview, “As president of Paramount Pictures, Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture.” And this sums up the rift between the creative minds behind The Godfather and the executives at Paramount with regards to casting Marlon Brando in the role of Don Vito Corleone. And the fourth episode of The Offer gives a look into this. 

It is documented that Coppola visited Brando’s home and Brando gave a few ideas about how he saw Don's character in the movie. The legendary actor is said to have then applied some shoe polish on his hair and stuffed some tissues in his mouth and delivered a test, which Coppola captured on his camera. The performance, on short notice and basically homemade makeup, was said to have blown everyone away who saw it. Coppola has also said that Brando introduced the idea of how Vito talks because the character was shot in the neck in the book and even that he had to look like a bulldog. While the ones that saw it were adamant that they wanted him to play the character, but the executives at Paramount had a difference of opinion. The fourth episode shows how Ruddy goes behind Robert Evans’ back and convinces Charles Bluhdorn and then Evans is almost forced to accept. 

The makers do a good job of recreating the scene in Brando’s home. Justin Chambers’ first entry as Brando in itself is impressive and the actor mirrors the legendary Brando on multiple occasions with his mannerisms. But the makers leave out the “audition” that Brando performed and one has to think that even Chambers could not have pulled it off to perfection the way Brando did. While Brando, who is notoriously known to be impossible to work with, is on board, Coppola is still hellbound on wanting Al Pacino to play Michael. 

Trusting Coppola’s vision, Ruddy pulls off an impressive feat and gets Bludhorn to make an executive decision to cast a relatively unknown Al Pacino to play Micheal. But Ruddy pulls this off once again, by going behind Evans’ back. This could very well have cost him his loyalty with the big gun at Paramount, someone who gave Ruddy his first shot at everything related to cinema. Now that Pacino, who they say is “impossible to take your eyes off of”, is cast as Pacino, they have a greenlight to begin production of one of the greatest films ever made. 

Ruddy’s story also gives us a look into the mafia getting more involved in the production of the film, with Joe Colombo threatening and bullying the owner of the house in Staten Island that is used in the making of the film, to allow them to shoot the picture in his property. Ruddy, who was witness to it all, says this was the dirtiest he felt, and we as the audience, have to believe that this was a true incident because Ruddy is also part of The Offer as one of the producers who has helped Tolkien write the show. 

Coppola has also said in real life that he never talked about acting with Brando during the filming and would just lay random props like Salami and cats for him to work with. With “the greatest actor of our generation” as Evans calls him and Al Pacino who was mercurial even as a lesser known both on line, the next few episodes could be about the filming and one can’t wait to see what new stories we get to see about the filming of The Godfather, from mafia to Brando. The show also hints that they have Gordon Willis and Dean Tavoularis on board, who were the cinematographer and production designer, respectively, for The Godfather. 

The episode also gives a look into Ruddy’s personal life as always and how the pressure of it all gets to him. We see for the first time in the show, getting into a real argument with his partner Françoise, the owner of the Chateau Marmont. They visit a couples therapist, but she eventually walks out on him as she feels Ruddy has dedicated his life to making this one motion picture. Ruddy also is seen to have spent a night of pleasure with Andrea Eastman. The episode ends with him walking the streets at night, looking at his own reflection. 

Verdict: While the first three episodes of the show felt problematic for a few reasons, this singular episode is more interesting, mainly due to the fact that it shows a lot of details about Brando and his casting. The mafia’s influence on The Godfather’s making gets clearer and darker and we can look forward to seeing it being filmed in the next few episodes. 

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