Photos Of The Offer Cast Vs. Their Real-Life Counterparts

Paramount+’s new miniseries The Offer tells the story behind the making of The Godfather, an iconic film that was an absolute nightmare to produce. At the center is Al Ruddy (Miles Teller), a producer determined to scrape together funding for what would become one of the biggest movies of all time.

Ruddy hoped that by adapting the 1969 novel The Godfather, he’d establish himself in the eyes of Hollywood. Yet, even with the help of the prolific Francis Ford Coppola, the movie didn’t come together easily. Production was rife with unforeseen challenges, including opposition from actual Italian mobsters.

The Offer stars Miles Teller as Ruddy. The eager Hollywood producer had a reputation in the industry for completing films on time and under budget, making him the ideal choice to adapt The Godfather. Despite this, the movie’s production was like nothing he’d ever experienced.

“Every day of making The Godfather was the worst day in my life,” Ruddy said in a 2022 interview with Vanity Fair. Fortunately, his efforts ultimately weren’t in vain. The film won Best Picture and would go on to be one of the most revered in the history of cinema.

Coppola, who’s played by Dan Fogler, was already established as one of Hollywood’s best talents in 1970, having won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Patton. Even so, he was not the studio’s first choice to helm The Godfather. Paramount much preferred Italian-born director Sergio Leone.

And he wasn’t initially sold on it, either. Despite The Godfather becoming, perhaps, Coppola’s signature film, he turned it down at first. “I thought it was going to be a special failure,” he told Variety. After being convinced to take on the project, Coppola went on to be nominated for Best Director for it, and he got to cast his relatives in bit parts throughout the trilogy.

One person who caused problems for the film was infamous crime boss Joe Colombo, who is played by Giovanni Ribisi in The Offer. After the arrest of his son, he formed the Italian American Anti-Defamation League and began fighting against Italian Americans being unjustifiably profiled as being Mafia-affiliated. He initially saw The Godfather as a threat to those efforts.

Colombo tried to halt production with the help of the League, and when that didn’t work, an underling blew up the iconic gates at Paramount Studios. During several negotiations, Colombo demanded the removal all anti-Italian slurs and Mafia mentions from the script. Gianni Russo was brought in and later said he got Colombo on board by appealing to his ego.

Matthew Goode stars as Hollywood legend Robert Evans. After originally beginning his career in front of the screen, Evans later became vice president of Paramount Pictures, as well as head of production.

Evans oversaw the production of The Godfather, along with several other cinematic classics like Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, and Love Story. It was Evans who initially paid author Mario Puzo $12,000 to write a treatment titled “Mafia” that would eventually become the novel on which the movie The Godfather was based.

Patrick Gallo stars as Mario Puzo, the author of the film’s namesake novel. He would go on to win an Oscar for his work on the Godfather script; however, his initial motivation to write the book was simply money. He was nearly flat broke and living in New York.

Though his most renowned work is still The Godfather, the writer published a long list of titles, most of which explore the underworld of Italian crime and family. Despite his knowledge of organized crime, Puzo was often adamant that he was in no way affiliated with the mob.

Burn Gorman portrays Charles Blüdhorn. Originally born in Vienna, Blüdhorn came to America as an industrialist and eventually ended up in Hollywood. He would go on to own Gulf+Western, a conglomerate that bought Paramount Pictures in 1966.

Blüdhorn oversaw production of The Godfather. He earned the nickname “Hurricane Charlie” for his infamously cantankerous ways and penchant for butting heads. Throughout the duration of production, he got into spats with Evans, Ruddy, Coppola, and even the Mafia.

Juno Temple portrays Bettye McCartt, who worked as Al Ruddy’s secretary during the film’s production. She emerged as one of the premiere voices behind the scenes in a male-dominated production.

The Offer showrunner Nikki Toscano described McCartt as “a little saucy,” and someone who “came to life in the writer’s room.” She would go on to found the Agency for Artists.

The Offer is now available on Paramount+.