History Trivia / Goncharov

* AscendedMeme: Adding to the confusion, Martin Scorsese has [[https://twitter.com/FilmUpdates/status/1596225898415546371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw confirmed to his daughter that he made the movie.]]

* ActorAllusion: At one point Andrey's father tells him to change his suit - "You look like a goddamn scarecrow". This was presumably a cheeky reference to Pacino's other project at the time, ''Scarecrow'', which he was filming scenes for in tandem with ''Goncharov'', often delaying schedule.
** Goncharov calls his mother 'the Queen of Spades', a reference to the 1948 film starring Yvonne Mitchell, who plays Mrs. Goncharova.
** When Pescegrande is found dead, one of his subordinates cries, 'A Star is Dead'. Lionel Stander (Pescegrande) had been in Film/AStarIsBorn1937.
* AlanSmithee: By the time the film returned to prominence in the 2020s, it became accepted that the name Matteo [=JWHJ0715=] is very likely an alias for an unidentified director that, for whatever reason, refused to associate his real name with the film. Damiano Damiani was announced as director in trade publications in 1972. It is unsure if he was ever involved, but it is alleged he and De Laurentiis scouted locations in Finland. Further complicating matters is reports that Matteo [=JWHJ0715=] died in a tragic and horrifically violent Ferrari accident not long after the film's release, but many of the details of the crash, and the identity of the person behind the wheel of the Ferrari, were apparently lost.
* AscendedMeme: Adding to the confusion, Martin Scorsese has [[https://twitter.com/FilmUpdates/status/1596225898415546371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw confirmed to his daughter that he made the movie.]]
* CaliforniaDoubling: Set in Russia, shot mainly in Yugoslavia, with some Italian locations, and at least one shot taken in New York. Some shooting was also done in Scotland. Caird Hall in Dundee plays Red Square, while the church on the hill overlooking the industrial district is St. Broderick's Church in Aberguthrie.
* CastTheRunnerUp: Creator/MerylStreep unsuccessfully auditioned to play Sofia, but still made her film debut in a small role as a nun. Her scene only appears in the TV cut (one of the aborted New York scenes involving [=DiNosso=]).
* DeletedScene: The Goncharov/Michailovs' time in England was cut out entirely.
* FakeRussian:
** The Russian Goncharov is played by the American Robert De Niro.
** Plus American Cybill Shepherd, Brits Yvonne Mitchell and George Coulouris, German Peter Berling, Italians Gastone Moschin and Luciano Catenacci, Indian Marne Maitland and Italian-Welsh Victor Spinetti.
* FollowTheLeader:
** The Italians, quick to respond on any big American film, responded with a series of 'rosso mafioso' films about fictitious Russian mobsters, often starring actors from the original film. At least three of them feature Lionel Stander, notably in the Austrian coproduction 'Moscow a Mano Armata' (1976). Fernando di Leo's Germechoff (1974), starring Mario Adorf as an exiled Russian mobster in Rome is almost an unofficial remake, even down to Gastone Moschin playing the Russian cop. Other films merely gave their otherwise Italian or American characters Russian names.
** Stelvio Massi's ''Pescegrande'' (1977) stars John Saxon as a character hinted to be the son of Lionel Stander's Big Fish, a mafioso's son turned cop living in Italy, hunting down exiled Soviet dissidents who 'ruined his family'. Alfonso Brescia even made a film called 'Revenge of the Goncharoffs' (sic) in 1977.
* InspirationNod:
** In the original draft of the script, Katya was called "Nastasya" in reference to a femme fatale-like character in Dostoevsky's ''Literature/TheIdiot''. Much like Katya, Nastasya was raised by an abusive man, ends up in a strained marriage, and falls into two messy love triangles (with Aglaya, Rogozhin, and Prince Myshkin) that have homoerotic undertones. While her name was changed, there is a moment where Katya is seen reading the book.
** The scene where Goncharov leaves a bottle of alcohol tied to a rope and hanging outside his window (to hide his growing alcoholism) is a reference to ''Film/TheLostWeekend''. Funnily enough, the film itself was heavily censored. The original novel was about a man having a gay affair while married, but was changed to him struggling with writer's block.
** Scorsese, a lifelong fan of Powell and Pressburger convinced David Farrar to come out of retirement to play Prince Stefani. Also, Yvonne Mitchell was cast as Mrs. Goncharova, on account of Scorsese being a fan of The Queen of Spades (1948).
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: HOO BOY. A short run on VHS and Laserdisc, reproduction rights tangled up through several production houses over 30+ years, the ACTUAL MAFIA trying to stop circulation...
* NewbieBoom: While Creator/RobertDeNiro and Creator/AlPacino have always had a strong fandom presence online, with the recent explosion in popularity of this film, the other actors in it such as Creator/HarveyKeitel and Creator/JohnCazale have received the most recognition from mainstream audiences than they've ever had in decades thanks to the supporting players' acclaimed performances.
* OneBookAuthor: The only known credit of Matteo [=JWHJ0715=].
* ReclusiveArtist: If Matteo [=JWHJ0715=] ''is'' a real person, then he is so reclusive that no one is sure if he's even still alive as of 2022. Rumors circulate of him having died in either a car crash or from having fallen backwards out a window.
* ThrowItIn: The moment in which Katya picks up Goncharov's discarded cigar with a fire poker was improvised by Cybill Shepherd after Creator/RobertDeNiro left the cigar on-set accidentally.
* TroubledProduction: Good God, yes. It's probably easier to list the things that didn't go wrong in this movie
** Scorsese had hoped to shoot most of the film in New York, scouting locations that he felt would look 'Russian'. De Laurentiis wanted to shoot in Moscow, having had connections from ''Film/{{Waterloo}}''. But the anti-Soviet themes caused alarm bells at Goskino.
** De Niro broke two bones ribs and one of his arms, in addition to giving himself a concussion, in a motorcycle crash, the shot of which, shockingly, ended up in the final cut.
** This delay voided several union contracts, meaning a lot of the lighting, and set design was done by Matteo [=JWHJ0715=] himself.
** Shooting took place in New York for two weeks, but during filming, the Mafia heard about the film, and sent out threats. The production was forced to go to Italy, with additional locations in Yugoslavia.
** Marius Goring's scenes as the doctor were a late addition, to tidy up strands left behind by the inability to shoot in New York.
** Earlier drafts of the script involved "Herb" Fyodorovich taking more of an active role, but due to Mafia threats curtailing NYC location filming, not to mention an almost-immediate intensive dislike between the director and a 20-year-old Tony Shalhoub, his role was cut to a OneSceneWonder and much of his dialogue was repurposed for other characters, most notably "Ice-Pick Joe". Shalhoub was reluctant to act again for years due to the stress of this early experience.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:

** There was going to be a remake in 2003, but it fell through for unknown reasons. Creator/NicolasCage was attached, presumably to play Goncharov, but Scorsese directly rejected the idea, citing that "He smells of fish".
** The script by Akiva Goldsman was leaked. It would flip the original idea on the head - with Goncharov, Mikhailov and Katya defecting Capitalists. It would begin in the 1970s. Goncharov would be a Moscow urchin, who knows only his surname, with Mama and Papa being Italian socialist defectors who adopted him. The film would begin with 'Mama' and 'Papa's bakery being burnt by 'Communist Pigs', and young Goncharov fleeing with Katya and Valery to the embassy, believing that a new age of Violent Communism is coming. From here, Goncharov grows up in a refugee camp in Sardinia. Daddario would be a Mafioso moonlighting as an aid worker, the son of a Russian mother and an Italian father. Mikhailov would become an Italian police officer, only to befriend local boss Gisaburo Morelli. Here, Goncharov becomes a protege of Morelli, moves to New York, and develops a rivalry with Santo Pescegrande, the son of Lino, 'the Big Fish' Boss of Bosses. Apparently, this script ended inside the World Trade Center at 9/11.
** Later on, Abel Ferrara was supposed to do a remake in 2007. Here, Goncharov is a baby (again, first name unknown) smuggled out of a Moscow orphanage in the 1970s, by the American ambassador, 'Gil Napier', to be given to his infertile wife. When his wife is killed in a terrorist attack, the boy is handed to Mikhailov, a member of the Soviet Embassy in New York. This version would have Katya not as Mikhailov's daughter, but his niece, who when the Iron Curtain falls down, moves with him to New York. This script would have cut out the Italian subplot entirely, and been set 75% in New York, with 25% in Moscow.
** Creator/LyndaCarter was offered a major role in the film, [[https://reallyndacarter.tumblr.com/post/701476446603034624/i-was-offered-a-role-in-goncharov-but-i-am-too but had to turn it down due to a scheduling conflict]]. ([[TheCameo She also appeared briefly as a dancer in the original.]])
** The New York scenes were heavily cut when the Mafia threatened to kill the crew. All of Lionel Stander's scenes as Lino Pescegrande were shot in Italy. George Memmoli as Di Nosso and Tony Shalhoub as Herb would have had larger roles, but unable to go to Italy, their scenes were mostly cut out.
** Originally, the final third of the film would have been set in New York, with the Pescegrandes larger characters and a greater focus on the Russian community in New York. The rewrite meant that after the massacre, we never hear about what happened to Di Nosso.
** Scorsese hoped to shoot in Moscow, but instead shot exteriors in Yugoslavia and Scotland, with interiors at Cinecitta.
** Many actors were recast late. Abe Vigoda was initially cast as Papa Goncharov, but when filming was relocated to Europe, he was replaced by George Coulouris.
** Creator/AnnaMassey was considered as Mariella.
** David Farrar was a late addition. Long retired in South Africa, Scorsese, fearing Farrar wouldn't budge, offered the role of Stefani to Dirk Bogarde and Rossano Brazzi, and had actually paid Cesare Danova (who was initially cast as Donnelli, before production moved to Italy) to be on standby if Farrar dropped out, but when Farrar was apparently persuaded by Michael Powell personally, he decided to take the part. It was his last film.
** De Laurentiis had hired John Guillermin to direct and Heywood Gould to write a sequel, which would have revealed that Goncharoff survived, and would undergo plastic surgery to take over the Pescegrandes. Creator/MichaelCimino was also approached about the sequel, but his plan to do background research by actually becoming an organized crime boss was rejected as impractical.
** Music/{{ABBA}} was slated to compose the music for a musical adaptation of the film that never came to fruition. Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson went on to create its borderline SpiritualSuccessor in ''Theatre/{{Chess}}'', another tragedy about a Soviet in a love triangle.
** Mitrov (Gastone Moschin), the Soviet commandant who briefly harasses Ice Pick Joe near the midpoint of the movie was originally supposed to be a major character in early drafts, and in early cuts of the film he still had a significant supporting role, but he was reduced to one scene in the theatrical release.
** Even moreso with Di Nosso, due to problems shooting in New York.
** Sir Giles Napier (Creator/MichaelGough), the British Ambassador who gives the Goncharovs the chance to escape from the roof of the embassy in a helicopter, in the novel becomes Prime Minister, and eventually knights Goncharov.

** The script by Akiva Goldsman was leaked. It would flip the original idea on the head - with Goncharov, Mikhailov and Katya defecting Capitalists. Curiously, remnants from the 1986 Lorenzo Semple miniseries script remained, i.e. the Sardinian refugee camp, Mikhailov and Katya being father and daughter, and the idea

** Sir Giles Napier (Creator/MichaelGough), the British Ambassador who gives the Goncharovs the chance to escape from the roof of the embassy in a helicopter, in the novel becomes Prime Minister, and eventually knights Goncharov.
** In the mid/late-1980s, DeLaurentiis planned a miniseries called The Goncharovs. It got perilously close to production. Shooting was to be done on the New York sets built for Year of the Dragon, at DEG studios in Wilmington. The script was by Lorenzo Semple Jr. Here, Valery and Katya would be father and daughter, with Valery a former Soviet policeman. Goncharov would be a Moscow urchin, who knows only his surname, with Mama and Papa being Italian socialist defectors who adopted him. The film would begin with 'Mama' and 'Papa's bakery being burnt by 'Communist Pigs', and young Goncharov fleeing with Katya and Valery to the embassy, believing that a new age of Violent Communism is coming. From here, Goncharov grows up in a refugee camp in Sardinia. Daddario would be a Mafioso moonlighting as an aid worker, the son of a Russian mother and an Italian father. Mikhailov would become an Italian police officer, only to be regularly blackmailed into helping local boss Gisaburo Morelli, eventually becoming his aide.

** There was going to be a remake in 2003, but it fell through for unknown reasons. Creator/NicolasCage was attached, presumably to play Goncharov, but Scorcese directly rejected the idea, citing that "He smells of fish".

** Scorsese hoped to shoot in Moscow, but instead shot in Yugoslavia, with interiors at Cinecitta.

** Sir Giles Napier (Creator/MichaelGough), the British Ambassador who gives the Goncharovs the chance to escape from the roof of the embassy in a helicopter, in the novel becomes Prime Minister, and eventually knights Goncharov.