History Trivia / TheSicilian

** This relative smoothness was not to last - in post-production, Cimino disappeared for months in editing, finally delivering a 150-minute cut of the film which he refused to make any changes to. However, in his contract, Cimino had the right to final cut ''only'' if he delivered the film at under 120 minutes. Things got worse when the distributor, 20th Century Fox, flatly refused to distribute the film unless it came in under two hours. Once this information was relayed to Cimino, he became enraged, and, days later, he delivered a cut of the film [[MagnificentBastard with all of the action scenes removed]], which brought it under 120 minutes but angered the producers.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $16.5 million. Box office, $5,406,879 (domestic). This film continued the descent of Creator/MichaelCimino's career. Cimino and the film were also hurt by a post-production editing incident with Cimino [[PrimaDonnaDirector being Cimino]], which landed him in court.

** The film was an adaptation of the Mario Puzo novel, and Puzo was paid $1 million for the rights. In pre-production, producers David Begelman and Bruce [=McNall=] learned that Creator/ParamountPictures had the rights to Michael Corleone as a character, so he had to be written out of the film. They hired Creator/MichaelCimino to direct, but Cimino butted heads with Begelman over the screenplay and casting - Cimino wanted Creator/ChristopherLambert to play the lead, but Begelman (understandably) didn't want a French actor to play an Italian-American in an English-language movie. Begelman and [=McNall=] eventually caved so that production could move forward. Meanwhile, Creator/GoreVidal had been hired for major rewrites, and sued the Writer's Guild of America and screenwriter Steve Shagan for a writing credit.

** The film was an adaptation of the Mario Puzo novel, and Puzo was paid $1 million for the rights. Before production, producers David Begelman and Bruce [=McNall=] learned that Creator/ParamountPictures had the rights to Michael Corleone as a character, so he had to be written out of the film. They hired Creator/MichaelCimino to direct, but Cimino butted heads with Begelman over the screenplay and casting - Cimino wanted Creator/ChristopherLambert to play the lead, but Begelman (understandably) didn't want a French actor to play an Italian-American in an English-language movie. Begelman and [=McNall=] eventually caved so that production could move forward. Meanwhile, Creator/GoreVidal had been hired for major rewrites, and sued the Writer's Guild of America and screenwriter Steve Shagan for a writing credit.

** The film was an adaptation of the Mario Puzo novel, and Puzo was paid $1 million for the rights. Producers David Begelman and Bruce [=McNall=] hired Creator/MichaelCimino, but Cimino butted heads with Begelman over the screenplay and casting - Cimino wanted Creator/ChristopherLambert to play the lead, but Begelman (understandably) didn't want a French actor to play an Italian-American in an English-language movie. Begelman and [=McNall=] eventually caved so that production could move forward. Meanwhile, Creator/GoreVidal had been hired for major rewrites, and sued the Writer's Guild of America and screenwriter Steve Shagan for a writing credit.

** Dirk Bogarde was offered the part of Prince Borsa.

* UncreditedRole: Creator/GoreVidal did uncredited work on the script.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/AlbertFinney was offered the role of Don Croce. He was starring in a West End play at the time and declined, as there was no script. Creator/IanHolm was also considered.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/AlbertFinney was offered the role of Don Masino Croce. He was starring in a West End play at the time and declined, as there was no script. Creator/IanHolm was also considered.

* FakeNationality: The only actors in the film adaptation who are actually Italian are Creator/JohnTurturro (Aspanu)[[note]]Turturro was born in New York but has Italian citizenship through his father, an immigrant from Giovinazzo, and his mother has roots in Sicily.[[/note]] ​and Giulia Boschi (Giovanna). The titular Sicilian is played by the French actor Creator/ChristopherLambert.

* FakeNationality: The titular Sicilian was played by the French Creator/ChristopherLambert.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/AlbertFinney was offered the role of Don Masino Croce. He was starring in a West End play at the time and declined, as there was no script.

** Things really hit the fan when, in response to Cimino's cut, the producers took Cimino to court, claiming he had cost the studio money and violated his contract. The producers hired Burt Fields, a lawyer who had earlier represented Creator/WarrenBeatty in his battle for final cut on ''Film/{{Reds}}'', and who, in doing so, established legal precedent that a filmmaker's contractual right to final cut was absolutely binding.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/AlbertFinney was offered the role of Don Masino Croce. He was starring in a West End play at the time and declined, as there was no script.