He seemed like a serious young filmmaker at the time, but his career was a mess. I decided to be candid with him. "Why does it always seem like you are in trouble?" I asked him, knowing that he was looking for a new gig. "Is it that you like trouble?" He shook his head emphatically. "I like to learn," he told me…

Morgana King, who is best known for playing Marlon Brando’s wife in Godfather I & II, died March 22 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was 87. According to the Washington Post, her death was not previously reported. The Riverside County coroner's office confirmed her death. Born Maria Grazia Messina on June 4, 1930, in…

It looks like someone stole some memorabilia from The Godfather hoping to get an offer that they can’t refuse. Replicas of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Godfather Notebook” which include items from the production of the legendary film have gone missing. Publishing and media company Regan Arts says that tens of thousands of…

The latest episode of The Deadline Podcast with Peter Bart today explores the off-camera intrigues that shape movies but never make headlines — how great lines are improvised (or blown), and last-minute scenes added or changed in new films and classic ones. A key scene in The Godfather is changed at the eleventh hour…

Just when he thought he was out, they pulled him back in: Al Pacino will reunite with Robert De Niro, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire and the man who mobbed them up, Francis Ford Coppola, in a rare reunion for the Tribeca Film Festival’s closing-night screenings of The Godfather and The Godfather P…

Filling out my Academy ballot this week, I find myself indulging in an exercise in Oscar futility: re-living my list of Oscar "should-haves." Brokeback Mountain should have won over Crash in 2005, Apocalypse Now over Kramer vs. Kramer in 1979 and ET over Gandhi in 1982. The Academy is, well, the Academy, but some 683…

In Episode 6 of The Bart & Fleming Podcast, Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. share stories about Francis Ford Coppola and the creation of The Godfather films. It comes on the heels of Coppola’s recently released The Godfather Notebook that offers an unprecedented in-depth look at the making of the iconic movie. Listen…

This week, in Episode 3 of The Bart & Fleming Podcast, Deadline’s Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr talk about the plethora of great films out this fall (too many films?) as studios ramp up their awards-season game plans. Also up for discussion: Fleming’s personal favorite, The Godfather. Listen…

EXCLUSIVE: The Godfather, the book about power, brothers, and ‘la famiglia’ written by Mario Puzo and then adapted and directed for the screen by Francis Ford Coppola, is widely considered one of the best films of all time. Many lines from The Godfather have also become part of the American lexicon. The film was…

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details of tonight's episode of Empire. "What I can say is that the first two episodes launch us into Season 2B and then it takes off like a demon," Empire showrunner Ilene Chaiken said of the return tonight of the blockbuster Fox series after nearly four months away. "I think it is…

Voting for Best Picture is an engaging exercise — except during those years when there is no clear best picture. Talk to Oscar voters (I am one) and you get the feeling that this is one of those years. Today’s Academy Award nominations and the maelstrom of guild and globes reflect a study in mixed signals. The Best…

Casting director Louis DiGiaimo, a five-decade veteran of television and film who cast four best picture Oscar-winners and notably gave Brad Pitt his big break died on Saturday from complications following a stroke earlier this year, his family announced. He was 77. Born in Paterson, N.J. in 1938, DiGiaimo began his…