Francis & The Godfather, the movie about the development of Francis Ford Coppola‘s classic, already boasted two of the best working actors today in the form of Jake Gyllenhaal and Oscar Isaac. It’s now added a third, as Elisabeth Moss has joined the cast.
With Isaac playing Coppola and Gyllenhaal portraying producer Robert Evans, Moss has signed on to play Eleanor Coppola, Francis’ wife. She is the mother of filmmakers Sofia Coppola and Roman Coppola, as well as the grandmother of writer-director Gia Coppola.
Eleanor is a filmmaker in her own right too, having directed the 1991 documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse and other documentaries about her family’s films. It will be great to see her get some of the spotlight in this project.
The film will focus on the chaotic development of the 1972 film. There were huge behind-the-scenes battles between Coppola and the studio on everything from shooting locations to casting, the high cost of filming in New York, combined with the fact that Marlon Brando hadn’t been in a hit for years. On top of that, the real Mafia wasn’t exactly excited to see Mario Puzo‘s bestselling novel made into a film.
It all worked out in the end as The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. Francis & The Godfather is always going to live in the shadow of the film it’s about, but it’s off to a great start by securing an incredible trio of actors. And they haven’t even cast people to play Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, or Diane Keaton yet.
Barry Levinson will direct from a Black List script originally written by Andrew Farotte that Levinson has since redeveloped.
Moss continues to star in The Handmaid’s Tale, but also led the box office horror hit The Invisible Man and the well-received Shirley over the past year.
She’ll next be seen in Wes Anderson‘s The French Dispatch and Taika Waititi‘s Next Goal Wins, and also has Apple’s TV thriller The Shining Girls and Hulu’s true crime drama Candy in the works, as well as Blumhouse thriller Mrs. March.
We’ll wait for more casting news for Francis & The Godfather, which could end up having one of the most stacked casts in recent memory. What actor isn’t going to want to be in a film about the making of one of the greatest of all time, where they may get the chance to play an equally legendary actor?
#Peace.Love.Francis&TheGodfather
