Talia Shire: Why I shouldn’t have been in ‘The Godfather’
she had been in her brother Francis Ford Coppola‘s shoes, she wouldn’t have hired herself for the role of Connie Corleone in “The Godfather.”Alluding to the fact that Paramount Pictures execs were mulling whether to fire director Coppola from the production she revealed, “it was really tough for Francis.”Shire, 75, added, “And I think the last thing he needed was his sister at that time … It added one more tension for him … I wouldn’t have had me on the set.”But the actress also noted that she “had to audition” for the role — and she and her big bro, now 82, eventually “enjoyed a collaborative professional relationship on that movie.”Shire, who played the challenging role of the only daughter of Don Corleone — married to ne’er do well Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo) — said that the harrowing scene where a clearly pregnant Connie is throwing dishes while dodging blows from her onscreen husband was difficult to shoot.“It’s a rough thing to see a pregnant woman being knocked around,” she acknowledged before explaining that legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis was “in the center of the action.”“And I had to move from place to place and I was honestly terrified because you didn’t want to do another take. Another take meant everything had to be reset and I just wanted to keep going and sometimes things wouldn’t break.