First Trailer for Making of 'The Godfather' Series ‘The Offer’

Miles Teller and Dan Fogler Lead the Cast in the First Trailer for ‘The Offer’

The limited series chronicles the tumultuous conception and production of Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster classic ‘The Godfather’.

Turning 50 years old in 2022, ‘The Godfather’ is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest movies ever made. But making it in the first place was far from an easy task.

That’s the true story that will unfold in new limited series ‘The Offer’, which launches on Paramount+ this April. It’s inspired by, and partly based on, the book from producer Albert S. Ruddy (who is an executive producer on the series). It chronicles his struggle to get the 1972 movie off the ground and keep it in production in the face of clashing creatives, difficult actors, and unhappy mobsters.

Paramount Pictures chose Ruddy to helm a project that the studio had little confidence could even succeed, especially since many considered the era of gangster movies to be long gone. Based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo, ‘The Godfather’ was originally conceived as a low-budget project, and Francis Ford Coppola only became involved after other filmmakers refused to direct it.

While ‘The Godfather’ is known for launching the prolific career of Hollywood legends including Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, ‘The Offer’ will focus on lesser-known facts of the movie’s production. Ruddy dealt with an unwilling director and a screenwriter desperate for money at the start of the production, and the series shows how he negotiated with the studio to increase the budget and help craft the classic it became.

How classic? 'The Godfather’ was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning three, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Marlon Brando's performance as Vito Corleone (though he famously refused to accept it, instead using the event to protest the country’s treatment of Native Americans).

Teller plays Ruddy, with Matthew Goode as Paramount head Robert Evans, Juno Temple as Ruddy’s secretary and right-hand woman Bettye McCartt and Giovanni Ribisi as real-life mobster Joe Columbo, who was determined to shut down production entirely.

Dan Fogler is Coppola, while Burn Gorman plays industrialist Charles Bludhorn, who ran Paramount’s parent company at time, Gulf & Western. Colin Hanks is on as Barry Lapidus, a Gulf & Western executive with a lot of power over Paramount, while Patrick Gallo is ‘Godfather’ author Mario Puzo. Justin Chambers, meanwhile, plays Brando.

'The Offer' was created and written by ‘The Player’ and ‘Escape at Dannemora’s Michael Tolkin alongside executive producer Nikki Toscano, who also serves as showrunner. ‘Rocketman’ director Dexter Fletcher handled the first block of episodes.

“What sealed it for me was when Al said, ‘Every day of making ‘The Godfather’ was the worst day in my life,’ and that told me we had a show” Tolkin told Entertainment Weekly last month. “For every character in the film, getting it made or stopping it from being made was at the core of their actions, and it was a matter of life and death to them.”

The 10-episode limited series will drop its first three episodes Thursday, April 28th exclusively on the Paramount+ streaming service. Subsequent episodes will drop weekly on Thursdays.