Shared with you
Paramount Pictures tried to go ahead with the film for many years without Francis Ford Coppola, who had refused to make another sequel. About twelve scripts were written. Most of the scripts included the Corleone family being led by Michael's son Anthony, battling the CIA, Fidel Castro's Cuban government, or South American drug cartels. A 1978 draft by Mario Puzo dealt with Anthony Corleone being recruited by the CIA to assassinate a Latin American dictator. Dean Riesner also wrote a draft based on Puzo's ideas. Drafts were also written by Paramount Pictures producers Michael Eisner and Don Simpson. The film was scheduled for a Christmas 1980 release date. These scripts were discarded when Coppola decided to work on the script with Puzo. But Coppola eventually abandoned the project. Puzo wrote another script in 1986 with producer Nicholas Gage that featured Sonny Corleone's illegitimate son Vincent Mancini, while showing the early life of the young Sonny Corleone. Paramount Pictures considered Sidney Lumet, Costa-Gavras, Alan J. Pakula, Robert Benton, Michael Cimino, and Michael Mann to direct. At one point, they were even close to signing Sylvester Stallone to direct and star in the film.
Al Pacino was offered $5 million to reprise his role as Michael. But Pacino wanted $7 million plus a percentage of the gross. Francis Ford Coppola refused. He threatened to rewrite the script by starting the story with Michael's funeral sequence instead of the film's introduction. Pacino agreed to the $5 million offer.
Al Pacino stated that he did not agree with the portrayal of Michael in the film. He didn't believe that Michael would ever feel regret or remorse for his actions, especially the murder of his brother.
Robert Duvall turned down the $1 million that the studio had offered to re-create his role of Tom Hagen. Duvall did not feel that his proposed salary was commensurate with what Al Pacino and Diane Keaton were getting ($5 million and $1.5 million, respectively). The character was subsequently written out. Duvall later defended his position, explaining that making money was the only reason to produce another Godfather movie after so many years.
Sofia Coppola had to redub about twenty percent of her original dialogue for the final cut after a disastrous early screening for the New York press on December 12, 1990, where many of the critics acrimoniously singled out her performance. According to an interview in Entertainment Weekly the following month, she said her greatest vocal challenges for the role were eschewing her "Valley Girl" accent, and correctly pronouncing the name "Corleone".
Vincent's mother, Lucy Mancini, is the bridesmaid with whom Sonny had an affair in The Godfather (1972).
Willie Brown: The former Mayor of San Francisco (1996-2004) appears as the black man who manages to have a word with Michael in the party sequence. He appeared as a personal invitation by Francis Ford Coppola. He is the only black person to appear in a speaking role in all of the three Godfather films combined.
Sonny Grosso: The man who rudely interrupts the New York City stockholders press conference. A detective and former partner of Eddie Egan (fictionalized in The French Connection (1971) as "Popeye Doyle") he was the inspiration for Doyle's partner Sonny.