One of James Caan’s Godfather co-stars has given a scathing interview about the late actor, making wild claims about a violent fight on set.
Godfather actor Gianni Russo has absolutely criticized the late James Caan in a new interview after his death.
In a scathing interview with The mailRusso, 78, said he had no contact with Caan, who died Friday at the age of 82 after filming the iconic 1972 film.
That is, until Caan wanted a role in Russo’s 1999 film, Any Sunday.
Russo, who helped produce the football drama, said he received a call from Caan’s agent while they were casting.
“He [Caan’s agent] he said, “You know, Jimmy would be great in this movie. He’s a big fan of sports,” Russo said of the film directed by Al Pacino, in which he had a supporting role.
“I said,‘ Do you think I would hire James Caan? I wouldn’t give Jimmy Caan a role in anything. He was so rude to me. “
Russo claims that Caan, who played Sonny Corleone The godfatherthe brother-in-law of Russo’s character Carlo Rizzi, was not kind to him from the first rehearsal.
“The biggest thorn in his side was, ‘Who is Gianni Russo?’ He was never kind to me from day one [at the time] I’m thinking he was a character because he’s an actor, ”Russo said.
Russo also claims that Caan went too far in one of the fight scenes in the film, in which Sonny beats Carlo to hit his sister.
Although Russo said a double stunt was used, especially when Carlo was thrown over a railing, he also represented parts of the scene and claims he was seriously injured by Caan.
“This is me. He’s biting my hand. He’s hitting my elbow with that bucket of steel trash. He broke my elbow,” Russo said. “When I crawled up and got up in the air, it broke two of my ribs, which wasn’t in the rehearsal. It was me lying there.”
Caan never admitted to hurting his co-star, claiming that day he worked with a double acrobatics.
But Russo added: “He discredits me even by making the scene. Unfortunately, we are talking about a boy who has died, and until the day of his death, this is his story. He was taken to the grave. as we would say “.
Russo, who was 27 when he was cast, said it didn’t help that he had ties to real-life mobsters like Frank Costello, Joe Colombo and Carlo Gambino. He suggested that Caan became competitive because he “fell in love with the mobsters.”
“Because it is [Caan] walking around with mob people, like Carmine Persico, and everyone already knows me. I come from Mulberry Street, how do you live on Mulberry Street and you don’t know people from the mob? ”Russo said.
“Until the day he died, he thought he was a mobster. He thought it was Sonny Corleone.”
This story originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission