Even if The Godfather wasn’t considered to be one of the greatest films ever made, the fascinating story behind its production would still be legendary. At a time when Paramount Pictures was beginning to take risks on up-and-coming filmmakers with something to prove, studio head Robert Evans enlisted the ambitious producer Albert Ruddy to put together an adaptation of the hit gangster novel by Mario Puzo, which was so authentic that it attracted the attention of the real mafia. While it seemed inevitable that Paramount+ would want to do something with The Godfather, as it is one of the most storied titles in its library, The Offer was a fun exploration of the chaos that went on in the making of the classic film.
The Offer received mixed reviews when it first debuted in early 2022, but it’s possible that some viewers didn’t go into the series with the right expectations. The Offer is about more than just The Godfather, as it examines a fascinating point in history during the “New Hollywood” era, in which studios began making highly prestigious, artful films that still managed to appeal to a mainstream audience. Although it's a series that’s highly nostalgic about a different era of filmmaking, The Offer also doesn’t completely lionize all the unusual figures involved in The Godfather, such as Francis Ford Coppola and Marlon Brando; in fact, it's Ruddy who ends up being the show’s most likable protagonist thanks to a charismatic performance by Miles Teller.
'The Offer' Follows the Colorful Characters Behind the Making of 'The Godfather'
The Offer does show an admiration for the brilliance of Coppola and his artistic genius, but the series dispels the myth that The Godfather was the masterwork of a single auteur who was completing his destiny. Instead, the series chooses to depict Ruddy as an ambitious young storyteller who was able to break the mold in both films and television, especially since he happened to be in the right place at the right time. Although the success of anti-establishment films like Bonnie & Clyde and Rosemary’s Baby had proven to studios that audiences were excited by arthouse cinema, Ruddy’s lucky streak only began when Paramount’s Charles Bluhdorn (Burn Gorman
The Godfather has been so crystallized as an all-time classic that it's easy to forget how transgressive it was considered to be when first released. The Offer shows why Ruddy’s approach to The Godfather was different from other gangster films, which tended to be more action-packed shoot ‘em up movies or exploitation cinema. The decision to treat the story of an Italian crime family as an epic worthy of Shakespeare that also commented on the rise and fall of the American dream was a result of the unique and theatrical ideas of Coppola, who is portrayed in The Offer by a very amusing Dan Fogler. However, The Offer shows that Coppola’s breakthroughs were a result of the paths that were opened to him by both Ruddy and Evans, portrayed as an eccentric by Matthew Goode; it was Evans who convinced Paramount not to shut down the production, and Ruddy who realized the film would be more impactful if Italian Americans actors and crew members were hired to approve the authenticity.
‘The Offer’ Explores the Exciting Culture of Hollywood in the ‘70s
Great films are not made in a day, and The Offer explores the various daily battles that are waged throughout an extended shoot. The show finds a particularly fun way of detailing the complex history of Brando, an actor who had consistently been cited as being difficult to work with. Justin Chambers does a great job at portraying Brando as a chameleonic performer whose best work had to be coaxed out of him by Ruddy, Coppola, and Evans, all of whom were fighting against a deadline as the film was threatened to be shut down. The film also acknowledges that Coppola’s unwavering commitment to perfection, while essential to making The Godfather so special, was exasperating for many of his collaborators who didn’t understand why they were tasked to do endless takes or whisked away to film brief scenes in Italy. While critics in 2022 may have felt that Fogler’s performance was a bit over-the-top, The Offer’s portrayal of Coppola might actually be a little reserved in the aftermath of all that was revealed about his production habits during the media circus around Megalopolis.
The Offer is a blast to watch, partially because some of its details are so absurd that they almost sound like fiction; the fact that the real mobster Joe Columbo (Giovanni Ribisi) helped promote and celebrate the film leads to a few hilarious subplots. While The Offer thoroughly examines the inception and reaction to The Godfather, it's easy to imagine the series being expanded to tell more stories. It’s teased at the end that Ruddy will go on to make his passion project sports film The Longest Yard, and those that know anything about Evans will remember he was essential in the creation of Chinatown, another classic with a notoriously chaotic behind-the-scenes process; although The Godfather: Part II was a less chaotic production, Coppola truly went off the rails during the infamously disastrous making of Apocalypse Now. There are plenty of rich details in The Offer that may offer insight for even the most desiccated cinephiles who have seen The Godfather endless times, but it's also a fun underdog story about a group of misfit artists who had no idea that they would end up creating something that would still be celebrated five decades later.
