Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather

The incredible true story of the making of The Godfather—one of America’s most popular cinematic masterpieces—featuring interviews with the director, producer, cast, and crew, just in time for the film’s fiftieth anniversary.

In 2009, Vanity Fair writer Mark Seal wrote a riveting account of the making of the 1972 classic The Godfather, featuring colorful interviews with the film’s key players, including director Francis Ford Coppola, actors James Caan, Talia Shire, and Robert Duvall, studio chief Robert Evans, producer Al Ruddy, and many more. Now, as the fiftieth anniversary of the film’s premiere approaches, Seal has returned to this remarkable story, and enriched it with new material that will enthrall and entertain even the biggest Godfather fans.

Through fresh interviews with cast and crew members, Seal uncovers stranger-than-fiction stories behind the making of the iconic film, and ultimately provides an expansive look at The Godfather. Comprehensive, unfiltered, and thoroughly entertaining, Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli. is the perfect book for film buffs and anyone fascinated by the operatic story of the making of a masterpiece.

Mark Seal joined Vanity Fair as a contributing editor in 2003, covering stories as varied as the Bernie Madoff scandal, Ghislaine Maxwell, Tiger Woods, the fall of Olympian Oscar Pistorius, the making of classic films such as Pulp Fiction, and many more. His 2016 Vanity Fair article “The Over the Hill Gang,” about a gang of retired thieves who pulled off the biggest jewel heist in British history, was the basis of the 2018 film, King of Thieves, starring Michael Caine. In addition to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli. he is the author of the books Wildflower and The Man in the Rockefeller Suit.