Amidst the acclaim that The Godfather received from all fronts, there was one influential critic of the movie — Frank Sinatra. The beef between Sinatra and the film began even before the start of filming. The singer and actor believed that one character in Mario Puzo’s novel, that of Johnny Fontaine, was modeled after him. On one occasion, Sinatra had a heated confrontation about this with Puzo where he threatened the author.
However, his threats on another occasion did not seem to bother singer Al Martino, who played the brief role of Johnny Fontaine in the film. In the end, all the efforts of Frank Sinatra to ruin The Godfather became futile as the movie became the biggest hit in Hollywood upon release.
Frank Sinatra Failed To Threaten One Actor Away From The Godfather Role
Frank Sinatra was not a big fan of the epic film, The Godfather. The Manchurian Candidate actor had a big blowup with Mario Puzo, while the latter was writing the screenplay for the film. He had talks with The Godfather producer and even sent a letter to Puzo’s publisher via his lawyers, demanding to see The Godfather manuscript.
The actor’s prime issue was the character of Johnny Fontaine, a musician past his prime who turns to the Godfather to revive his film career. Sinatra believed that it was modeled after him. Interestingly, Mario Puzo’s research about the mob extended to the Las Vegas Sands Hotel, which was partly owned by Sinatra.
According to Mark Seal, the author of Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, Sinatra “loomed over The Godfather production from afar.” While his blowup at Hollywood’s Chasen’s eatery was against Puzo and producer Albert S. Ruddy, he also tried other ways to intimidate The Godfather crew. He even allegedly interfered with the casting.
In an interview for Mark Seal’s book, singer Al Martino, who played Johnny Fontaine in the film, shared that he was warned against acting in the film. He was told that he would have to face serious consequences if he chose to act in the film. However, Martino was not the one to back down on such empty threats. He revealed that he got “hard-nosed” about it and didn’t pay any heed to the threats. Al Martino shared with Mark Seal:
“If you take the role, Sinatra will bar you from Las Vegas. I’m the last guy you could threaten. I got hard-nosed about it. I took the bull by the horns!”
Al Martino was not banned from Las Vegas and he revealed that he continued to play in Vegas. Only Francis Ford Coppola‘s encounter with Frank Sinatra ended on a positive note, as Coppola revealed to USA Today that he offered to produce the film and play the central Godfather character.
Frank Sinatra And Mario Puzo’s Big Blowup On The Godfather Script
Frank Sinatra and Mario Puzo met at a Hollywood eatery while the latter was writing the script for The Godfather. The encounter went south quickly and Sinatra allegedly snarled at Puzo, “Choke. Go ahead and choke.” This scene was featured in the Paramount+ series The Offer, which detailed the making of The Godfather.
The Paramount legal team earlier approached Puzo about the scene and the potential lawsuit from Sinatra, but Puzo assured that the scene was very minor in the film. Puzo wrote in his essay, The Making of the Godfather, that everything boiled over when he met Sinatra at Chasen’s. Producer Albert Ruddy was also present when Sinatra allegedly started to shout abuse at the author. Puzo wrote:
“What hurt was, here he was, a Northern Italian, threatening me, a Southern Italian, with physical violence. [It was] roughly equivalent to Einstein pulling a knife on Al Capone.”
Frank Sinatra couldn’t stop the massive success of The Godfather. Not only did it become the highest-grossing film at the time, but it also received several Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Marlon Brando, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Puzo and Coppola. The Godfather is now available for streaming on Paramount+.
