Marlon Brando thought Paramount Pictures would refuse to cast him as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, and he had a valid reason to think so, but he did eventually land the part. The Godfather cast features some of the biggest screen legends ever to grace the silver screen. It featured some established stars, like Robert Duvall and Sterling Hayden, and gave other up-and-coming actors their big break, like Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, and James Caan. But easily the most iconic actor in the cast is Brando.

Brando’s breathtaking portrayal of a grizzled, aging mob boss is one of the many reasons why The Godfather still holds up today. The Corleone patriarch became the defining role of Brando’s career and earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor (which he declined). However, it wasn’t always a given that Brando would appear in The Godfather. The actor feared that the studio would refuse to cast him, so how did he convince them to change their minds?

Marlon Brando Believed His Box Office Failures Would Count Against Him For The Godfather

Brando’s Box Office Clout Suffered Throughout The 1960s

According to Peter Cowie’s book The Godfather Treasures, Mario Puzo — the author of the original novel — felt that Brando was the only actor who could portray Vito. But when Puzo sent Brando a copy of the script, Brando coyly replied that he should wait until the studio ᴀssigned a director to the project before getting ahead of himself. Throughout the 1960s, Brando had suffered a series of box office bombs (Candy, The Nightcomers, The Appaloosa, A Countess from Hong Kong, The Night of the Following Day), so he didn’t think Paramount would proceed with The Godfather if he was attached.

How Marlon Brando Was Eventually Cast As The Godfather’s Don Corleone

Brando Wowed Executives With A Great Screen Test

As Brando predicted, the executives at Paramount were against casting Brando as Vito in The Godfather. It was partly because of his commercial disappointments from the ‘60s, but it was also due to Brando’s reputation of having a short temper and being difficult to work with. Francis Ford Coppola wanted Brando for the role, but Robert Evans wanted Ernest Borgnine and Paramount wanted Orson Welles. Ultimately, it came down to two finalists, Brando and Borgnine, and Paramount was still hesitant to cast Brando despite Coppola vouching for him.

Stanley Jaffe, the president of Paramount, eventually relented, but he wanted Brando to do a screen test. Not wanting to offend an actor of Brando’s caliber by asking him to audition, Coppola set up the screen test under the guise of a camera test. Paramount executives were impressed with Brando’s screen test and agreed to cast him in The Godfather, but only on the condition that he took a lower salary and put up a bond ensuring he wouldn’t hold up production, and the rest is history.

Source: The Godfather Treasures by Peter Cowie