Here's why Francis Ford Coppola took over 15 years to make The Godfather Part III. Based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and released in 1972, the original Godfather movie was nothing short of revolutionary for cinema, influencing filmmakers for years to come with its exemplary visuals, characters and storytelling. Although The Godfather's behind the scenes was fraught with battles between Coppola and Paramount executives, the director agreed to make a sequel and enjoyed much greater creative control and a bigger budget the second time around. Premiering in 1974, The Godfather Part II is as revered as the original, and simultaneously explores the reign of Al Pacino's Michael Corleone as Don, and the rise of his father, played by a young Robert De Niro.

After only a fleeting 2-year gap between the first two Godfather films, it would be 16 years before The Godfather Part III hit cinemas in 1990. With an aging Michael desperately trying to turn the Corleone family into a legitimate operation, his gang rivals make an ambitious assassination attempt that brings Pacino's iconic mob boss back into the game, choosing Sonny's young firebrand of a son (Andy Garcia's Vincent) as his replacement at the top of the organization. After two bona fide classics, The Godfather Part III is generally viewed as a letdown in comparison - a solid effort in an otherwise exceptional franchise.

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The main reason behind The Godfather Part III's long journey to the big screen is Coppola's reluctance to make it. After finishing up with his epic 1974 sequel, Coppola was content to leave the Corleone story alone, with no burning desire to revisit that world again. The respected director moved on to a litany of other projects including Apocalypse NowThe Outsiders and The Cotton Club. Coppola has spoken of his preference for smaller, lower-budget projects, and he worked on plenty of these labors of love after The Godfather Part II, all while resisting studio offers to make a third installment in the Corleone saga.

Vincent flirts with Mary in The Godfather 3

The winds began to change in 1982 with the release of Coppola's One From The Heart. Costing somewhere in the region of $26 million, One From The Heart was a huge financial flop, and had been produced by Coppola's own Zoetrope studios. After Zoetrope's debt continued to spiral over the following years, the studio filed for bankruptcy in 1990, the same year The Godfather Part III was released. Naturally, this experience left Coppola in a less-than-ideal financial position, and with a lucrative offer to make a third Godfather movie still on the table, the time had come for the director, still somewhat reluctantly, to return to the Corleone story. While draft scripts were already in place when Coppola finally agreed to make The Godfather Part III, much of this material was scrapped once the team of Coppola and Puzo reunited.

Even after biting the Godfather Part III bullet, Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo had a very different vision for the film compared to Paramount. Rather than a straight sequel, Coppola and Puzo viewed the next installment of Michael's story as an epilogue titled The Death of Michael Corleone. This would've preserved the integrity of the original two films, setting up the 1990 release as a mere post-script, rather than a full-on continuation of the story. The studio vetoed this move and opted for The Godfather Part III as a title, against the director's wishes.

While The Godfather Part III perhaps isn't as awful as its reputation might suggest, most fans would agree with Coppola's initial position that the first two films painted a complete picture that required no further additions. It's clear that Coppola made every effort to ensure The Godfather Part III was as good as it could be, but those years spent staunchly turning down a third film for creative reasons inevitably shine through in the finished product.

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