Why Frank Sinatra Hated The Godfather
Warning: SPOILERS for The Offer.
Frank Sinatra famously hated The Godfather novel andThe Offer delves into the singer's crusade to prevent The Godfather movie from being made. Timed to celebrate The Godfather's 50th anniversary,The Offer is 10-episode series on Paramount+ about how Francis Ford Coppola's landmark film was produced. Set in 1965-1972, The Offer centers on Albert S. Ruddy (Miles Teller), The Godfather's producer, and the eclectic cast of characters who labored to adapt the best-selling novel onto the big screen — as well as those like Sinatra who didn't want the classic gangster movie to be made.
Mario Puzo's novel about the Italian-American crime family, the Corleones, was a blockbuster. It sold over 9-million copies and spent 62 weeks atop the New York Times bestseller list when it was published in 1969. However, the Italian-American community, especially the Mafia, felt Puzo's novel denigrated them and they pushed back against The Godfather film being filmed in New York. The Offer dramatizes this by focusing on mobster Joe Columbo (Giovanni Ribisi), the head of the Columbo crime family. Columbo formed the Italian-American Civil Rights League in 1970 and The Offer posits that one reason was to protest «the traitor» Mario Puzo and his book and rally the Italian-American community against The Godfather. Mario Puzo and his book. Meanwhile, Frank Sinatra, who is also Italian-American, had an even more personal reason to despise Puzo and The Godfather.
Related: The Offer Cast, Character, & Real-Life Comparison Guide
In spite of Mario Puzo's denials and insistence that his novel is a work of fiction, it's generally accepted that The Godfather character Johnny Fontaine is based on Frank Sinatra. Fontaine is a
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