Legendary actor James Caan shared the screen with Marlon Brando in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 classic The Godfather. Playing the role of hot-headed, hungry Italian Sonny Corleone, Caan cemented his reputation in the industry after demonstrating his skill as an actor.
Thereafter, during the 50th anniversary of The Godfather, James Caan relived the moments from the set of the film that launched his career. Speaking with A.V. Club, Caan revealed a fascinating behind-the-scenes story about his experience working with the iconic Marlon Brando, and an incident that left him scared of getting in hot water with his co-star.
James Caan Recalls His Favorite Scene with Marlon Brando
Sitting for an interview with A.V. Club, during the 50th anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola‘s The Godfather, James Caan, who played the role of Sonny Corleone, oldest son to Marlon Brando’s Don Vito Corleone, recalled his filming experience. Reminiscing about his time on the set of the 1972 cult classic, Caan opened up about his favorite scene.
Warning that his favorite scene had nothing to do with good memories, James Caan began narrating how the very sequence he holds close to his heart is the one that scared the life out of him. Explaining how Francis Ford Coppola often encouraged improvisation on set, to enhance the character arc, Caan noted ad-libbing a scene with Marlon Brando.
“Yeah, but they’re for different reasons. There’s a few. I loved Brando by the way, man. He was the greatest, and I in turn served as his f*ckin’ clown because he laughed…everything I said, everything I did, he laughed… So there’s a scene where [Robert Duvall] comes back from the horse’s head scene and we’re sitting with Brando in the living room.”
“Brando, me, and Bobby are sitting there, and he’s talking to him about the horse’s head incident. And when I sit down, this is one of the first scenes I shot with Brando. There’s a bowl of nuts to my left, walnuts. And I’m listening, hunched over… And for whatever reason, Brando’s talking or Bobby’s talking, I unconsciously picked a nut out of the bowl, but they were not shelled. The shell was still on. And all of a sudden, I started to play with the nut.”
Discussing how he started playing with a bowl of walnuts, a choice he made in the moment to add depth to his character, James Caan revealed what happened next that scared the life out of him.
Marlon Brando Scared The Hell Out of James Caan
While James Caan began by clarifying that his favorite scene from The Godfather was due to a different reason than happy moments, the actor later began explaining what happened. Claiming that an incident occurred during a pivotal scene between his character Sonny and Marlon Brando’s Don Vito Corleone, Caan noted, realizing late, that his actions might have upstaged Brando.
As the two actors began performing, James Caan started playing with a bowl of walnuts when he tried to crack open one, and it made a loud noise in between Marlon Brando’s sentence. Immediately the actor recalled feeling a sense of dread wash over him as he thought he might have offended Brando. Worried that his improvisation might have come across as disrespectful or unprofessional, Caan discussed what happened next.
“Now I had it in my hand and I tried to open it a little bit, and right in the middle of a sentence of Brando’s, he just lifts his head and looks at me, stares at me. And I’m going as Jimmy Caan, oh f*ck. I upstaged him. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even try to make noise. I’m sitting there with this f*ckin’ nut in my hand and I don’t know what to do with it now, you know, because it was Brando.”
“And Brando just looked at me, and then I had to finish. So I opened it up very, very quietly and started eating it… little by little. And when he said cut, Brando started punching his fist and laughed and said, that was great. I said, what are you talking about? Because he was talking about Sonny not being a Don, like his mind is so scattered and whatever with the girls… And the idea that I was playing with the f*ckin’ nut proves it when he’s talking about serious business.”
Well, now you know why James Caan’s favorite scene from The Godfather is the one that made him terrified. Although it didn’t start as a happy memory, the result of improvisation became an iconic moment in the film. To Caan’s surprise, Brando not only approved of the walnut-playing choice but also praised it.
The Godfather is available on Prime Video.
