who wrote the musical score for the godfather
Nino Rota Giovanni "Nino" Rota[1] (3 December 1911 â€“ 10 April 1979) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. He also composed the music for two of Franco Zeffirelli's Shakespeare films, and for the first two films of Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather trilogy, receiving the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Godfather Part II (1974).
The Godfather Before The Godfather was in production, Paramount had been going through an unsuccessful period.[7] In addition to the failure of The Brotherhood, the studio had usurped their budget for their recent films: Darling Lili,[16] Paint Your Wagon, and Waterloo.[7][20] The budget for the film was originally $2.5 million but as the book grew in popularity Coppola argued for and ultimately received a larger budget.[N 2][26][36][38] Paramount executives wanted the movie to be set in then modern-day Kansas City and shot in the studio backlot in order to cut down on costs.[26][16][36] Coppola objected and wanted to set the movie in the same time period as its eponymous novel, the 1940s and 1950s;[26][31][16][32] Coppola's reasons included: Michael Corleone's Marine Corps stint, the emergence of corporate America, and America in the years after World War II.[32] The executives eventually agreed to Coppola's wish as the novel became increasingly successful.[36][16] The studio heads subsequently let Coppola film on location in New York City and Sicily.[41]