Paulie Gatto: Last News

Robert De Niro’s “unforgettable” audition for The Godfather in a new interview.The director, whose film Megalopolisarrives in cinemas this week (September 27), said even now, he is still impressed with De Niro’s audition.“He had an unforgettable audition for Sonny Corleone, that was so in advance of what I even could imagine because he really nailed that kind of a guy,” Coppola recalled at a Q&A before the New York premiere of Megalopolis this week (September 23). De Niro was at the event with Coppola as well as director Spike Lee (via IndieWire).At the time of his audition, De Niro was an unknown and Coppola actually offered the part of Paulie Gatto in the film after the part of Sonny Corleone went to James Caan instead. De Niro later appeared in The Godfather Part 2 playing a young Vito Corleone.One line that Coppola remembers in particular is De Niro delivering the line about “getting his brains all over your nice Ivy League suit, Michael”.He recalled: “I never forgot that.

The infamous boss who ran the Gambino crime family in the late 20th century was a profound fan of “The Godfather” and expressed his generosity to the cast, actor John Martino, 84, who portrayed Paulie Gatto in the film, told The Post. “He loved ‘The Godfather,’ ” Martino, known for his death in the “leave the gun, take the cannolis” scene, recalled how he became close to Gotti years after the 1972 release of the award-winning film.“He mentioned to somebody in my family, and they said to me, ‘Johnny, [Gotti] wants to meet you so bad,’ ” Martino, a nephew of early 20th-century mob icon Charles “Lucky” Luciano, said.Happy to oblige, Martino met up with Gotti at a club in Manhattan in the 1980s, he said.“When I saw him for the first time he had just become the boss . .