‘The Godfather’ 50th anniversary: A legacy made from gut feelings, pranks and fate

Johnny Depp’s life as an A-list Hollywood actor appeared to be a far comparison from that of the life he grew up witnessing while living with his family as a kid. As it turns out, despite acting for a living and becoming a main draw at the box office, once the cameras stopped rolling on set, Depp’s own life at home would have all the makings of a true drama, according to his words.  The former "Pirates of the Caribbean" star testified during a hearing at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia on Tuesday to the idea that he initially made the decision to sue his ex-wife, Amber Heard, 35, for libel after she made scathing allegations against him that he had been physically abusive toward her during their time together.

Jackson Wang has opened up about his thoughts on the global music industry and how he wishes to connect the East and the West.READ MORE: Onew – ‘Dice’ review: a stately revelation of his true, shining talentsIn a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Wang, who is also a member of K-pop boyband GOT7, spoke about the gap between music from the East and West, and how he feels music can help cultures transcend borders.“I think music itself is art, like more than regions, its music,” explained Wang, who was born in Hong Kong. “The reason I’m here, just going traveling everywhere, trying to share my music. I hope one day I can connect East and the West as a bridge, you know?”Wang added that his hope is to eventually see both regions have an awareness of each other, one that extends beyond the music industry.

GOT7’s BamBam is set to partner with American basketball team Golden State Warriors to release new music.READ MORE: Dreamcatcher – ‘Apocalypse: Save Us’ review: a refreshing, albeit naive take on the worldEarlier this week, the basketball team announced the launch of Golden State Entertainment, an affiliate company that will release music and documentaries on sports and culture from the Bay Area.To formally launch the company’s music division, Golden State Entertainment is set to release the song ‘Wheels Up’, a new single performed by BamBam. The company’s officials added that Oakland recording artist Mayzin will also be appearing on the track.Prior to the announcement, BamBam had performed the track during the Warriors’ game against the Los Angeles Lakers on April 7.

Danny Elfman has reflected in a new interview on the “intense and insane feeling” of performing at this year’s Coachella.The 68-year-old composer, singer and songwriter’s set was one of the unexpected highlights of last weekend’s edition of the annual Indio, California festival, during which he performed his theme from The Simpsons as well as compositions from Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas.Speaking to Variety in a new interview about his Coachella performance, Elfman said that he “was just relieved to have made it through in one piece”.“I was joking to a friend before the show, ‘Look, we have 30 minutes to set up a show that’s never been performed before with 50 musicians on stage. What can possibly go wrong?'” he recalled.

Selena Gomez keeps her head down while leaving the Giorgio Baldi restaurant on Tuesday night (April 19) in Santa Monica, Calif.

Will Smith slapped Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett's bald head during the live Academy Awards show on Sunday.But hours later their mutual friend Sean Combs - who now goes by Diddy - told Page Six while at the Vanity Fair bash that the superstars are doing fine.'That's not a problem. That's over.

The 94th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood not only honored the best in film for 2021, but also paid tribute to The Godfather trilogy.In recognition of the 50th anniversary celebration, the film's legendary director and co-writer Francis Ford Coppola took the stage with leading man Al Pacino and The Godfather II star Robert Di Niro.While Coppola would give thanks to the audience and the fans at home, he made a point of singling out only two people who helped make the three iconic films possible, one of which he claimed he had never thanked publicly. Iconic: The 94th Academy Awards paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of The Godfather by having director and co-writer Francis Ford Coppola and stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro give thanks for all of the accolades over the years Legendary: The Godfather premiered at Loew's State Theatre on Broadway in New York City on March 14, 1972 , and was widely released in the United States on March 24, 1972; stars James Caan, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino andJohn Cazale are pictured from the opening senesSean 'Diddy' Combs would first take to the stage, and do his best at givingthe trilogy its due justice on the impact its had film, but also popular culture as a whole.And then, following an edited piece complete with some of the trilogy's most iconic scenes and lines, Pacino, 81, Coppola, 82, and De Niro, 78, made their grand entrance on to the stage together for the ABC telecast.

The 2022 Oscars featured a Godfather reunion!

Simon Thompson Being given the job of restoring arguably one of the greatest films of all time, “The Godfather,” is daunting enough. Doing it under the watchful eye of its director, Francis Ford Coppola, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the filmmaker’s Academy Award-winning opus is another level entirely.It was a team led by restoration expert Andrea Kalas, Senior Vice President of Archives at Paramount Pictures, and James Mockoski, Archivist and Restoration Supervisor at Coppola’s American Zoetrope, who took up the mantle.“The burden of restoring this masterwork was something everyone felt,” Kalas recalls, noting that it required some of the finest artisans in the industry to do so.Laura Thornburg, Executive Director of Preservation, had left Paramount, but Kalas brought her back to oversee the restoration.

“The Godfather” gets meta in new trailer for “The Offer”.

Paramount Plus has released the official trailer for “The Offer,” the upcoming drama miniseries that chronicles the making of “The Godfather.”Set in the early 1970s, “The Offer” stars Miles Teller as Albert S. Ruddy, who is hired as the producer for the film adaptation of the best-selling novel “The Godfather,” written by Mario Puzo (played by Patrick Gallo). While the series faces typical behind the scenes tension between its director Francis Ford Coppola (Dan Fogler) and producing team, the filming grows more complicated when mob boss Joe Colombo (Giovanni Ribisi) signs on to help assist in the production.

The Godfather after Francis Ford Coppola cut one of his scenes.The actor recalled the incident in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, noting the deleted scene was one of his largest in the film.He explained: “When Michael [Al Pacino] tells me he is going to take care of the cop and Sollozzo [Al Lettieri], I say, ‘You’ll get brains all over your nice Ivy League suit.’“There was a scene before in the same room that I had with Bobby [Duvall] that was like 10 pages long — and Francis cut all of it out! I was so pissed off, I couldn’t watch the rest of the film.”He adds with a laugh, “But otherwise, he gave me a great honor.”Caan also addressed a rumour claiming he disliked Gianni Russo, who played Carlo Rizzi, and that they had got into a fight.“He had a fight with someone else. Not me,” Caan said.

The trailer for The Offer is here!

We’ve discussed it before, but let’s quickly reiterate: Intellectual Property (IP) is where it’s at for Hollywood, but when you can’t really make a sequel about a classic drama that has a lot of vintage IP—like “The Godfather” which just turned 50 recently—another avenue is making a movie or series about the making of a classic film. Take Paramount+’s “The Offer,” their mini-series about making “The Godfather.” READ MORE: The American Dream Of ‘The Godfather’ At 50 And yes, director Francis Ford Coppola is a big part of that story, but the tale Paramount is really telling is the entire behind-the-scenes picture which in many ways centers more on the producers that helped bring it to the screen.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaIt’s hard to believe, but it’s been 50 years since Francis Ford Coppola’s”The Godfather” made moviegoers an offer they couldn’t refuse.The film was a sensation when it debuted in March 24, 1972, setting box office records, revitalizing the career of Marlon Brando, launching the likes of Al Pacino, Robert Duvall and James Caan onto the A-list, and scoring an Oscar for Best Picture. But things could have gone very differently. Coppola, an up-and-coming director tasked with bringing Mario Puzo’s best-selling novel to the screen, was hardly the studio’s first choice for the task (Paramount production chief Robert Evans preferred Costa-Gavras).

Nicolas Cage is an internet star but he’s mystified about it.

doomed Santino “Sonny” Corleone, the eldest son of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) and brother to Fredo (John Cazale), Connie (Talia Shire) and Michael (Al Pacino).Prior to his breakout, Oscar-nominated role in “The Godfather,” The Bronx-born Caan was best-known for roles on a slew of ’60s-era television series — including “The Untouchables,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “Get Smart,” “Wagon Train,” “Naked City” and “Route 66” — and for playing cancer-stricken Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo opposite Billy Dee Williams (as Gale Sayers) in “Brian’s Song,” ABC’s tearjerking Movie of the Week which aired in November 1971.(He also appeared in several movies, including “The Rain People” in 1969, directed by Coppola — Caan’s classmate at Hofstra — and co-starring Robert Duvall, aka Corleone Family consigliere Tom Hagen.)Caan, who turns 82 on Saturday (March 26), spoke to The Post in a wide-ranging interview about his memories of filming “The Godfather,” which airs somewhere on television virtually every day — in all of its iterations — and will be re-released Tuesday (March 22) in a comprehensive 4K ultra-high-definition Blu-ray package.“One of the things that made ‘The Godfather’ successful, besides brilliant directing and writing and wonderful actors … was that everyone really enjoyed making it, and that comes off on the screen,” Caan said. “And I think the audience can tell that we were having a good time doing what we were doing up there.“Marlon was great,” Caan said of Brando.

Sasha Urban editorThe Academy Museum of Motion Pictures revealed the first round of exhibits for its 2022-2023 season on Monday, including a tribute to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 film “The Godfather” and its first permanent exhibit, “Hollywoodland,” dedicated to the founders of Hollywood.Other newly announced additions to the museum include “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971,” a tribute to French filmmaker Agnès Varda and spaces dedicated to “Boyz n the Hood” (1991), “Casablanca” (1942) and the collaborations of production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer.“The history of film is endlessly rich and varied, which is why we envisioned the exhibitions of the Academy Museum as a continually evolving set of installations and virtual content,” said Bill Kramer, director and president of the Academy Museum. “We are delighted to present a new round of stories, explorations, moving images, props, and other objects that explore the many facets of moviemaking – from the founding of Hollywood to present day.” When the Academy Museum opened in September, it included exhibitions on Spike Lee, Hayao Miyazaki and Pedro Almodóvar, but the museum faced criticism from donors and Academy members for neglecting to include explicit mention of the Jewish founders of the Hollywood studio system.“The Jewish contributions to the film industry, from its founding to today, should be highlighted,” Haim Saban, who donated $50 million to the Academy museum alongside his wife, Cheryl, told Rolling Stone in January.

Steven Gaydos Executive VP of ContentDecades ago, in his landmark “Biographical Dictionary of Film,” critic David Thomson said of filmmaking legend Francis Coppola: “No one retains so many jubilant traits of the kid moviemaker.” As Coppola approaches production on “Megalopolis,” his biggest, most creatively ambitious project of the 21st century, that description seems more apt than ever.And a quick glance at the Variety archives vividly illustrates Coppola’s explosive emergence as a veritable force of nature while still enrolled as a film student at UCLA.The wunderkind announced his arrival with his name blasted in a Variety page one headline as the winner of a student screenwriting competition.

Zack Sharf Al Pacino celebrated the 50th anniversary of “The Godfather” this month in a interview with The New York Times. While the actor reminisced on often-told stories about Paramount Pictures executives battling Francis Ford Coppola over his casting as Michael Corleone, Pacino also revealed a moment on set when he saw the director at his most vulnerable. The constant tension between Coppola and Paramount resulted in the filmmaker “profusely crying” on set after the studio cut the filming of one iconic scene short.“You remember the funeral scene for Marlon, when they put him down?” Pacino said.

Quincy Jones is an absolute legend in the music industry. The 89-year-old Chicago native is responsible for some of the biggest songs by such iconic performers as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Michael Jackson. His work as a composer, writer and producer earned him a whopping 80 Grammy nominations, with 28 wins. He’s even been nominated for an Oscar on seven occasions! Hitting the high note time after time has allowed the former jazz musician to achieve a massive net worth of $500 million!