‘The Godfather III’: Why Sofia Coppola Played Mary Corleone Instead of Winona Ryder
In 1991, three months after the release of The Godfather: Part III, the New York Times printed a letter to the editor from a well-known reader. That reader was Francis Ford Coppola, the four-time Oscar winner and director of the first two Godfather installments.
“I find it hard to understand why you included The Godfather: Part III in your article about sequels of hit films that flopped,” Coppola wrote to the Times. “This film has already grossed more than The Godfather: Part II and still has its release in Europe, Japan, and the rest of the world to go.”
Coppola had a point there. And he had another point when he mentioned the two Oscar nominations (Best Picture, Best Director) he’d received for III. Eventually, the film earned more than double its budget. But the picture remained an object of ridicule for many.
Many critics zeroed in on the performance of Sofia Coppola, the director’s daughter who played Mary Corleone. In some cases, the treatment of the young actress was brutal. It could have gone differently had Winona Ryder, whom Coppola originally cast, played the character.
