(Credit: Far Out / YouTube still)
Though it's not the most consistent relationship in terms of quality, movies and video games have been intertwined for decades, and it's not as if Francis Ford Coppola wouldn't approve of the increasingly symbiotic relationship between the two mediums.
Whether it's movies based on video games, video games based on movies, or movies and video games existing as part of the same extended universe, consoles and movies are never too far apart, for better or worse, and the result left the legendary director completely appalled.
Of course, given his vocal disdain for superheroes, it's unlikely that Coppola would have welcomed the idea of fusing a video game with a feature film, especially considering one of his many masterpieces is The Godfather It was relaunched in 2006 as an open-world adventure.
But some of his most famous cast members didn't have the same problem: the final credited role of Marlon Brando's career was when his lines as Vito Corleone, which he recorded specifically for the game, finally hit store shelves two years after his death. James Caan and Robert Duvall went a step further by doing motion-capture work, much to Coppola's exasperation.
Discuss the project Sunday Morning ShootoutThe director claimed he “knew nothing about it,” and not only that, “they didn't ask me if I thought it was a good idea,” which is probably because he told them exactly what he thought about it. The Godfather Being made into a video game has never been a good thing.
“You take a character that everybody knows, hire an actor to just introduce the supporting cast, and then for an hour they're shooting each other dead,” he fumed. “I have nothing to do with that game, I'm against it. I think it's a misuse of film.”
However, the game's producer, David De Martini, disagrees, revealing that he and his team met with Coppola “once to share our vision for the game and where we wanted to go. They even accepted an invitation to visit his winery, so it's not like the project came out of nowhere and surprised him.
But one person wasn't in the loop: the son of writer Mario Puzo, who sued Paramount based on a contract his father had with the studio that entitled the estate to a cut of the profits from any film. The GodfatherHe ultimately won the legal battle and was riched by millions, but Coppola had no choice but to sit back and watch as his masterpiece crime novel was remade into a shoot-'em-up movie.
