Talia Shire Celebrates The Purest Vision Of Coppola’s ‘The Godfather’ As It Turns 50 In 4K

The Godfather, one of the greatest movies of all time, landed in movie theaters in March 1972, which means that 2022 sees it celebrate its 50th anniversary.

As part of the commemorations of director Francis Ford Coppola’s Academy Award-winning masterpiece, all three films in the trilogy have been remastered, restored, and released on 4K Ultra HD for the first time.

“Why is it that these movies are so great?” mused Talia Shire, the iconic actress who played Connie Corleone Rizzi in all three films. “They have their own presence, and they change you.”

I spoke to her about the enduring nature of the film, the 24th highest-grossing movie of all time, a special event on the Paramount Pictures lot that reunited key cast and crew, and why Coppola’s Godfather restorations are about vision and not vanity.

Simon Thompson: Few people get to have one iconic movie in their career; you’ve had several, including this saga. The Godfather remains as popular and revered as ever 50 years after its release. As an artist, what is that like?

Talia Shire: It’s something to be cherished on a personal level. I ask myself those very questions because they will define me in my present desires to do something creative. Why is it that these movies are so great? They have their own presence, and they change you. I think that’s what a work of art does, that continues to live. If you dare to engage with that work of art, and in this case, see it, you will be transformed. As artists, that’s what we really want our work to do. We want it to change the people who watch it.

Thompson: You were back on the Paramount Pictures lot with the number of the cast and with your brother to celebrate this. What was that experience like in itself, getting back together with everybody?

Shire: First of all, I’m just going to say it to you, Francis Ford Coppola is the greatest living director we have. To honor him feels great, having this moment with this great artist where people say, ‘Look what you created.’ It was really important to be on the lot. I’ll tell you that, honestly, it was a strange feeling. When you are there, you go back in your imagination and wonder what it was like in the old days when all those actors were wandering around and having lunch and talking about the incredible movies they were making. What it must have been like with the energy on those lots. I still long for that. It was great to honor Francis there. Do you know what they had ready when we all came out of the movie? 2000 cannolis.

Thompson: When you screen something like this on the lot, it is possibly the best environment to watch a classic like this. Francis shot much of the Godfather movies on location. I’m guessing not much was filmed on the Paramount lot itself?

Shire: I recall there were scenes, certainly for The Godfather Part II, shot there. You are correct that The Godfather was filmed in New York and Sicily. I’ll tell you what I do remember, and it’s always a great moment. When a movie has finished shooting, and the composer scores it to picture. That is a stunning moment because you see it all, and then you begin to hear the music under it because that’s its last element. That’s a magical moment, and it happened there on that lot.

Thompson: All of the Godfather movies have been beautifully restored and presented in 4K. The people involved have done fantastic work. I’m guessing this version is the closest to what you would have experienced yourself on the set with your own eyes.

Shire: The filmmaking process is very different from theater, where it’s more immediate you see what you’ve been doing. The process of moviemaking is that the process and the product don’t come together until you actually go to see it, and it can be incredibly chaotic, but still, that film is born, and it’s terrific. To see it restored, and it was an act of love to see how it was handled, felt like the true creative dreaming of Francis. That’s genuinely what I felt like.

Thompson: Francis has had a number of his movies restored. From conversations you’ve had with him, has he been itching to see these films restored? Is this something that has been in the back of his mind for a long time?

Shire: He’s an artist, so he doesn’t have that sort of vanity. He presents himself in a very different way where he is servicing the work, and it’s not that the work services him, and that’s what you feel. It’s a sort of divine grace that he has. It mattered that these works were given the very best in their restoration. I know it mattered a great deal.

Thompson: Whenever I have spoken to people about Francis, they often say that he’s very generous with the cast of his films and very devoted to the people involved, whether they are in front of or behind the camera. Is that something that you’ve always felt working with him?

Shire: He is a great collaborator. He really loves it. He was a theater major, and he was an actor. I saw him in As You Like It and, dare I say that, he’s a very good actor. So, he acted with you when you were on that set. You feel you have an acting partner, and you will be safe in the frame. Francis is a remarkable collaborator, certainly from an actor’s perspective.

Thompson: The Godfather has been a phenomenal success at the box office and continues to make money. It has reportedly grossed between $250 and $291 million and was recently re-released in theaters, continuing to pull in crowds. Nowadays, we often value movies by their box office. Do you think we’re perhaps too obsessed with the dollar signs when we evaluate films?

Shire: They cost so much, and it’s how people deal with putting a movie on today. It’s about the cost, which is a shame because you have to make it back. It’s a shame because you want to see the other products and art they might make, so it’s a concern. I hope there is a new sensibility with the powers that be where they want to make that work of art. You find it there, and you can appeal to that. But you’re right; it’s a killer. We know the box office too soon now, by the way. I don’t think people realize this, but in the old days, you didn’t know how your movie did for about two weeks so that it could play. Then you could learn about it in three days, but now you know, automatically, what those calculations are, and it’s a shame.

The Godfather Trilogy is now available to own in a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set and a 4K Ultra HD Limited Collector’s Edition.