Overkill in ‘Godfather’ series

Francis Ford Coppola was almost fired. Paramount execs didn’t want Brando and thought even less of Al Pacino. That severed horse head in the studio mogul’s bed? It was real. And the actor, John Marley, had to spend an entire day in a pool of prop blood filming the scene.

But you’re probably aware of all these things because, 50 years after its release, most people know “The Godfather” and the Corleone family more intimately than they know their own ancestries. Or maybe that’s just me. I once floated “Santino” as a name for the new family dog, but my wife objected, saying she didn’t

Nicole Wilder Paramount+ DAN FOGLER, left, portrays filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and Miles Teller is producer Albert S. Ruddy in “The Offer,” a limited series about “The Godfather.”