Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.
The classic film widely acclaimed as one of the best films of all time (in some circles THE best film of all time) featured stunningly fresh performances and a modern take on a crime family that accentuated the family over the crime. And, according to Paramount+’s new limited series The Offer, it’s a film that almost never got off the ground.
Miles Teller (Whiplash) stars as Al Ruddy, the eventual producer of The Godfather. Over the course of the series, we watch him evolve from a sad-sack office drone to a beleaguered producer fighting tooth and nail for his vision for Mario Puzo’s (Patrick Gallo) celebrated novel. Along the way, he enlists the aid of enthusiastic and dedicated assistant Bettye McCartt (Juno Temple) and well connected “legitimate businessman” Joe Columbo (Giovanni Ribisi) while constantly begging Gulf & Western magnate Charles Bluhdorn (Burn Gorman) for favors and money. All the while, he needs to support the vision of his director, Coppola (Dan Fogler), against the dollar-driven intuition of Robert Evans (Matthew Goode).
If the plot of The Offer sounds like a lot, then that’s because it is. In addition to the mechanics of filmmaking, the limited series covers the business machinations behind taking Paramount from a poor performer to the highest grossing studio in the world. It covers the blood (literally), sweat, and tears that go into producing a work of art. It explores the intersection between organized crime and filmmaking. And all the interpersonal relationships clashing into one another along the way.
Director Dexter Fletcher leverages his love of the 1970s displayed in both Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman and makes this story feel authentically of its time. Like Rhapsody, it’s a work that goes beat to beat, story point by story point, without lingering on any particular theming. But with Michael Tolkin among its writers, The Offer manages to score a handful of scenes that provide a slight sense of melancholy about the beauty of filmmaking. As we stand at the edge of a time when seeing major pieces of cinema in an actual theater feels like an endangered pastime, The Offer reminds us of the majesty of cinema, of the magic required to put any film together let alone a great one like The Godfather.
Much of that comes toward the end when Matthew Goode’s Robert Evans comes around to save the jeopardized film. There are maybe a few dozen of performances in film or television history that emerge from the perfect marriage of actor to script. Matthew Goode’s Robert Evans is one of those performances. I’ve never seen Goode this intense, this charismatic, this effortless, or this engaging. He embodies Robert Evans in a way I’m not sure any other working actor really good. He glides through the series, dominating every scene he’s in. You cannot take your eyes off him. It’s a brilliant, timeless, classic performance that blew me away.
And it feels perfectly at home within the ensemble of The Offer. Teller leverages his natural intensity to strong effect in portraying Al Ruddy as a singularly focused individual, dedicated to doing whatever it takes to win. Juno Temple is at her most Juno Templest here, and I mean that as an extraordinarily high compliment. As with her Keeley Jones in Ted Lasso, her Bettye is a fiercely intelligent and independent woman, and Temple plays her with gusto, giving hints of vulnerability. Also standing out within the ensemble is Dan Fogler’s Francis Ford Coppola who, here, emerges as a wide-eyed child in love with cinema. He’s overjoyed when he gets his way, but he’s not afraid of throwing a tantrum or three.
I’m a sucker for “the making of” stories, and The Offer delivers on that promise in spades. Admittedly, it’s a little long, and I grew weary of the mafia sequences. On those, I found it ironic that, in celebrating a film that eschewed traditional mafia stereotypes, The Offer doubles down on all of them. Still, there are sequences so magical and brilliant in their execution that they more than compensate for a few sags along the way. One in particular invokes the legendary rehearsal dinner between The Godfather family members, a beautifully rendered sequence that breathes a sense of unpredictability into the series.
And if you’re not convinced, then what if I told you Justin Chambers (Grey’s Anatomy) plays Marlon Brando. If that doesn’t pique your interest, then I got nothin’.
The Offer drops its first three episodes on Thursday, April 28, with weekly episodes following each Thursday.
