The two Vitos: De Niro’s translation of Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II

Abstract

Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando are the only two actors to win an Academy Award for playing the same character: Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather series. My article examines the similarities and differences between the actors’ interpretations of the iconic Don Corleone. I draw on lessons on script interpretation they both learned from their acting teacher Stella Adler and Robert De Niro’s goal of ‘being in the present circumstances of the moment’ to examine De Niro’s translation of Brando, the script, Mario Puzo’s novel and their interpretation of Corleone’s embodiment of masculinity. Using De Niro’s scripts, documents and notes related to his research of Corleone in the Harry Ransom Center, I outline the specific steps that De Niro took to translate and reinterpret Corleone. By triangulating the three major personalities most responsible for creating the memorable role, we can separate the various author-functions of three very different creators – Francis Ford Coppola, Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.