Casting What-Ifs
James Cagney; Peter Sellers as Hyman Roth; Richard Castellano as Clemenza
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:47:47Read transcript
- Coppola offered James Cagney a part, possibly Roth or Senator Geary, but Cagney refused.
- Peter Sellers was considered for Roth, which would have been a different movie.
- Richard Castellano declined to return as Clemenza after demanding to write his dialogue, and Gazzo was brought in a day before filming.
- In a New York Post interview Castellano disputed this, saying Coppola told him to lose weight and that Clemenza would not betray the family.