Dead men tell no tales.
Late “Godfather” author Mario Puzo may be sleeping with the fishes, but his publishers at Random House are maneuvering like the Don Vito to launch a sequel to the 22-million selling 1969 novel with a new writer at the helm.
Random House executive editor Jonathan Karp e-mailed several literary agents last week with the details of the author search. CNN reports Karp said he was looking for “someone who is in roughly the same place in life Mario Puzo was when he wrote ‘The Godfather’–at mid-career, with two acclaimed literary novels to his credit, who writes in a commanding and darkly comic omniscient voice.”
Asking writers to send five to 10 page outlines to literary agents, Random House is working with the Puzo estate to review the submissions in what amounts to a massive “Why I want to be a Corleone” contest. Publishers have set next Monday as the deadline for submissions.
With such lofty and high profile criteria, the possibilities are intriguing and the list comparatively short. One can imagine the likes of wordsmiths Tom Clancy, Stephen King and Chuck Palahniuk hunched over iMacs this week scrambling to finish their outlines faster than a procrastinating English major.
A decision from the Puzo estate will not be announced until after the Nov. 7 deadline, but the winning author undoubtedly faces an uphill climb. Like any cherished work, “The Godfather” holds a large fanbase that does not want its near-mythic Mafia tome tampered with.
Long-time Puzo fans already regularly lambaste “The Godfather Part III” director Francis Ford Coppola’s 1990 addendum to his ’70s Oscar-winners.
Puzo won Academy Awards in 1972 and 1974 for co-writing the screenplays for critically-acclaimed smashes “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II.”
But the operatic and thematically-complex “Part III” is underrated woefully. More importantly–though Puzo again co-wrote with Coppola–the film’s narrative exists completely outside of his original novel, suggesting further tales of the Corleone clan can and most likely will be told.
“These characters just keep pulling you back in,” Karp told CNN. “There is enormous continuing interest in the Corleone family, and a great opportunity to tell a story that could take place before, during or after the original book.”
Karp says Puzo expressed regret for not fully exploring the character of Sonny Corleone or the exploits of singer Johnny Fontaine.
Rumors of a “Godfather” prequel have circulated Hollywood for years. When Coppola’s original Sonny, James Caan, was asked who should reprise the role, he replied his son Scott (“Ocean’s 11”) would be a wise choice. If not interested in directing, Coppola in years past expressed a desire to produce another “Godfather” entry. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio told press he also could be tempted by a prequel. As the classic trilogy’s studio, Paramount Pictures has first options on a possible forth film based on the new novel.
Though the Puzo estate controls the literary rights to all “Godfather” characters, Random House signed a confidential, but likely multi-million dollar deal, to license them for another book. Hollywood is ready to pounce. Karp told CNN, “We hope Paramount or some other studio will want to buy the movie rights, and it is our intention to see that happen.”