How a Blank Gun Incident During Auditions Shaped The Godfather Part II's Legacy
How a Blank Gun Incident During Auditions Shaped The Godfather Part II's Legacy
DeAnna JanesThu, April 2, 2026 at 10:29 PM UTC
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(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives on Getty Images)
On this day in 1975, The Godfather Part II was No. 1 at the box office.
A smash hit with critics and audiences alike, the film that forever changed cinema was riddled with as much drama and chaos behind the scenes as the Corleone family was tackling on the screen.
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According to Mental Floss, the second installment of the mob saga “almost didn’t happen at all.” The film’s director, Francis Ford Coppola, whose first go-round was not without its challenges, wasn’t interested in furthering the story. In fact, he suggested Martin Scorsese fill his shoes for the sequel. Paramount wasn’t amused and talked Coppola into the film.
Perhaps the most fascinating -- and frankly shocking -- bit of production chaos swirling around this crime masterpiece is the fact that character actor Timothy Carey shot at Coppola during auditions. With a gun. The gun was filled with blanks, but still, the director and everyone in the room, aside from Carey, were caught off-guard.
According to Carey, who spoke with Film Comment in 2004 about that very scene, he described the incident as “byootiful,” with Coppola grabbing the gun and shooting him back, “like a kid.” Here’s how the character actor put it:
“I went to talk to Francis at Paramount. I already had the part, but I still wanted to do a scene. Francis and his pals were sitting around his office and I brought a box of cannolis and Italian pastries as gifts. I said, ‘I brought you this gift to pay respect to my friends,’ and I reached down into those dripping cannolis and pulled out a gun — boom boom! — and blew the hell out of all of them.
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“And then I shot myself and staggered over and fell on [co-producer Fred] Roos's desk — all the contracts went flying. And Coppola grabbed my blank gun and shot me back — bang bang! — like a kid. It was byootiful — I took 'em completely by surprise. Francis was stunned, ‘How much do you want?’ But Roos didn't like it, so he went to work and influenced Coppola against me.”
Carey added, “One guy, a little guy, was sitting there watching everything. A young kid with a camera, but he wasn't filming. He just sat there with a mean, kind of miserly … I could tell he was afraid by the lines on his face. Like he needed two inches of Chinese tonic. It was Martin Scorsese, somebody said.”
In the same interview, Carey, whose resume includes The Killing (1956), Paths of Glory (1957), and The Outfit (1973), said he turned down both Godfather roles -- the second being that of the made Mafioso boss seen at the start of the film -- because if he took them, he'd be “just like any other actor -- out for the money.”
The Godfather Part II, which premiered on Dec. 18, 1974, and spent eight weeks at No. 1, went on to win six out of its 11 Oscar nominations. But its legacy far outweighs its accolades.
Widely considered the best sequel ever made, the film forever changed cinema, not only introducing the parallel-structure narrative, but proving that sequels could not only live up to but perhaps surpass their predecessors in quality and artistic merit.
The Godfather Part II is streaming on Paramount+.
Related: 1974 Classic That Became a Generational Hit Dropped 52 Years Ago Today
This story was originally published by Parade on Apr 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
