Both Roberto De NiroThe Oscar wins were eerily predicted by an iconic scene from The godfathereight years before completing his double Oscar win. Over the course of his career, De Niro was nominated for a total of nine Oscars. He was nominated for Best Actor for Taxi driver, The Deer Hunter, Raging bull, Awakeningsand Cape Fear; he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather Part II, Silver linings Playbookand Flower Moon Assassins; and he was nominated for Best Picture as a producer of The Irish.
But De Niro only won two Oscars. His first Oscar win was for Best Supporting Actor for Francis Ford Coppola The Godfather Part IIin which he played the younger version of Vito Corleone in the prequel timeline, filling out his backstory. Then, six years later, he won Best Actor for his sobering portrayal of volatile boxer Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese’s black-and-white biopic. Raging bull. Both Oscar wins were strangely foreshadowed by a scene in the first Godfather film.
A scene from The Godfather combines Robert De Niro’s two Oscar roles
A poster of Jake LaMotta can be seen when Vito Corleone is shot
An early scene in The godfather contains references to both of De Niro’s Oscar-winning roles. During the first act of The godfather, After Vito Corleone refuses to invest in the Turk’s heroin business, the Turk sends some assassins to kill him. Vito is shot dead in the street as his useless son Fredo watches helplessly. This scene introduced The godfatherThe iconic orange symbolism, but it also featured De Niro’s two Oscar-winning roles.
This scene’s most obvious reference to an Oscar-winning De Niro role is Vito himself.whose younger incarnation would be played by De Niro in the sequel. But there is also a poster of a LaMotta fight posted in the window where Vito passes. Because Coppola couldn’t have known that De Niro would end up playing LaMotta to universal acclaim, the poster wasn’t included as an intentional teaser – it’s just there to immerse the audience in the historical milieu of The godfatherperiod setting – but it’s a fun Easter egg in retrospect.
Robert De Niro had already auditioned for The Godfather before appearing in the sequel
De Niro auditioned to play Sonny Corleone before James Caan was cast
Before James Caan was cast as Sonny Corleone, De Niro auditioned for the role (via IndieWire). Coppola described De Niro’s audition for Sonny as “unforgettable,” but Paramount decided to go with Caan. Coppola offered the then-unknown De Niro a smaller role as Paulie Gatto, but De Niro declined to take on a larger role in The gang that couldn’t shoot straight. Coppola never forgot Roberto De Nirobrilliant audition, so when he was presented with the “scary” task of casting young Vito to The Godfather Part IIhe knew which actor would be up to the challenge.
Source: IndieWire