The 94th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood not only honored the best in film for 2021, but also paid tribute to The Godfather trilogy.
In recognition of the 50th anniversary celebration, the film’s legendary director and co-writer Francis Ford Coppola took the stage with leading man Al Pacino and The Godfather II star Robert Di Niro.
While Coppola would give thanks to the audience and the fans at home, he made a point of singling out only two people who helped make the three iconic films possible, one of which he claimed he had never thanked publicly.
Iconic: The 94th Academy Awards paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of The Godfather by having director and co-writer Francis Ford Coppola and stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro give thanks for all of the accolades over the years
Legendary: The Godfather premiered at Loew’s State Theatre on Broadway in New York City on March 14, 1972 , and was widely released in the United States on March 24, 1972; stars James Caan, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and John Cazale are pictured from the opening senes
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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs would first take to the stage, and do his best at giving the trilogy its due justice on the impact its had film, but also popular culture as a whole.
And then, following an edited piece complete with some of the trilogy’s most iconic scenes and lines, Pacino, 81, Coppola, 82, and De Niro, 78, made their grand entrance on to the stage together for the ABC telecast.
The three men, all dressed in black suits, were greeted with a genuine standing ovation, which came 51 years ago to the day that The Godfather won three Oscars, out of 11 nominations, at the 45th Academy Awards.
Setting it up: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs would first take to the stage, where he did his best at giving the trilogy its due justice on the impact its had on film, but also popular culture as a whole
Classic: A number of the most iconic and memorable scenes from all three films were edited together in a piece that aired before the three Hollywood legends made their way to the stage
Humbled: Coppola first thanked Pacino and Di Niro, calling them ‘two wonderful friends’
With De Niro to his left and Pacino to his right, Coppola, who directed and co-wrote all three screenplays with Mario Puzo, appeared grateful and humbled by the moment.
‘I think I feel moments like this should be sincere and brief,’ Coppola began, before acknowledging his leading men.
‘I’m so grateful to my two wonderful friends, to come here to help me celebrate with you this project that we began 50 years ago with really the most extraordinary collaborators, many of them legends, and so many of them that I can’t take the time list them all, but you know them all well.’
He continued: ‘So I’m only going to thank two from the bottom of my heart. One is a collaborator who I’ve thanked many times, and every time you see the name – The Godfather – his name is above the title: Mario Puzo.’
Puzo, who passed away in 1999 at the age of 78, wrote The Godfather novel (1969), which he later co-adapted into the film trilogy with Coppola.
Two collaborators singled out: Coppola went on to thank two people for their contributions to The Godfather: Mario Puzo, who’s the writer of the novel the original film is based on, and Robert Evans, who was the head of Paramount Pictures at the time of the first two films
50th anniversary tribute: Coppola ended the tribute by thanking the live audience and viewers at home, giving a nod of respect to both Pacino and De Niro, and then sharing his support to Ukraine, in the wake of the Russian invasion
After another applause, albeit much more brief than during the introduction, the acclaimed filmmaker continued on by thanking Robert Evans ‘for his participation and his decisions at the end that made it possible.’
He confessed he had never publicly thanked Evans in regards to The Godfather.
Starting his career as an actor and then producer, Evans was the head of production at Paramount Pictures at the time The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather II (1974) were made. It was his successes with those two iconic films, along with a number of others movies for the company, that helped transform the floundering studio into a one fo the most successful in Hollywood.
Coppola ended the tribute by thanking the live audience and viewers at home, giving a nod of respect to both Pacino and De Niro, and then sharing his support to Ukraine, in the wake of the Russian invasion.
‘Viva Ukraine’, he said, which were repeated by his two leading men.
More acclaim: De Niro would take over the role of a younger Vito Corleone in The Godfather II, which like the original film earned 11 Oscar nominations
The Godfather premiered at Loew’s State Theatre on Broadway in New York City on March 14, 1972 , and was widely released in the United States on March 24, 1972.
It became the highest-grossing film of 1972, and for a time it was the highest-grossing film ever made, earning between $246 and $287 million at the box office.
The film received universal acclaim from critics and audiences, with praise for the performances, particularly those of Pacino and Marlon Brando, James Caan and Robert Duvall.
De Niro would take over the role of a younger Vito Corleone in The Godfather II. It would earn 11 Oscar nominations at the 47th Academy Awards in 1975, winning six, including Best Picture, a first for a sequel film, as well as Best Director for Coppola, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola and Puzo.
The Godfather III (1990) would get six Oscar nominations, including nods for Best Picture and Best Director.
Overall, the trilogy earned between $430 million and $517 million at the worldwide box office, and a place in Hollywood history as being among the best in filmmaking.
Classics: Overall, the trilogy earned between $430 million and $517 million at the worldwide box office, and a place in Hollywood history as being among the best in filmmaking
OSCARS 2022: WINNERS
BEST PICTURE
Belfast (Focus Features)
Coda (Apple) – WINNER
Don’t Look Up (Netflix)
Drive My Car (Janus Films/Sideshow)
Dune (Warner Bros)
King Richard (Warner Bros)
Licorice Pizza (MGM/United Artists Releasing)
Nightmare Alley (Searchlight Pictures)
The Power Of The Dog (Netflix)
West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
History: Coda became the first ever streaming film to win Best Picture as it upset The Power Of The Dog
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose – West Side Story – WINNER
Judi Dench – Belfast
Kirsten Dunst- The Power Of The Dog
Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Ciaran Hinds – Belfast
Troy Kotsur – Coda – WINNER
Jesse Plemons – The Power Of The Dog
J.K Simmons – Being The Ricardos
Kodi Smitt-McPhee – The Power Of The Dog
Amazing: Troy Kotsur became the first male actor to win an Oscar for Coda
COSTUME DESIGN
Cruella (Jenny Beavan) – WINNER
Cyrano (Massimo Cantini Parrini)
Dune (Jacqueline West)
Nightmare Alley (Luis Sequeira)
West Side Story (Paul Tazewell)
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
Belfast
Dune – WINNER
No Time To Die
The Power Of The Dog
West Side Story
ORIGINAL SCORE
Don’t Look Up (Nicholas Britell)
Dune (Hans Zimmer) – WINNER
Encanto (Germaine Franco)
Parallel Mothers (Alberto Iglesias)
The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CODA (Sian Heder) – WINNER
Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi & Takamasa Oe)
Dune (Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts & Denis Villeneuve)
The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)
Shining moment: Sian Heder earned Best Adapted screenplay for the film as it went three for three on the night
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Belfast (Kenneth Branagh) – WINNER
Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay & David Sirota)
Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)
King Richard (Zach Baylin)
The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt)
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Affairs Of The Heart
Bestia
Box Ballet
Robin Robin
The Windshield Wiper – WINNER
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Ala Kachuu — Take and Run
The Dress
The Long Goodbye – WINNER
On My Mind
Please Hold
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Drive My Car – WINNER
Flee
The Hand of God
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
The Worst Person in the World
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dune (Zsuzsanna Sipos & Patrice Vermette) – WINNER
Nightmare Alley (Tamara Deverell & Shane Vieau)
The Power of the Dog (Grant Major & Amber Richards)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Stefan Dechant & Nancy Haigh)
West Side Story (Rena DeAngelo & Adam Stockhausen)
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield – tick, tick… BOOM!
Will Smith – King Richard – WINNER
Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye – WINNER
Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz – Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart – Spencer
All eyes on her: Jessica Chastain finally won her first Best Actress trophy for her titular role in The Eyes Of Tammy Faye
DIRECTING
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog – WINNER
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi – Drive My Car
Steven Spielberg – West Side Story
FILM EDITING
Don’t Look Up (Hank Corwin)
Dune (Joe Walker) – WINNER
King Richard (Pamela Martin)
The Power of the Dog (Peter Sciberras)
Tick, Tick… Boom! (Myron Kerstein & Andrew Weisblum)
MAKEUP AND HAIR STYLING
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye – WINNER
House Of Gucci
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Encanto – WINNER
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells VS The Machine
Raya And The Lost Dragon
ORIGINAL SONG
Be Alive — Beyoncé Knowles-Carter & Darius Scott (King Richard)
Dos Oruguitas — Lin-Manuel Miranda (Encanto)
Down to Joy — Van Morrison (Belfast)
No Time to Die — Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell (No Time to Die) – WINNER
Somehow You Do— Diane Warren (Four Good Days)
Not a bad guy: Billie Eilish and brother FINNEAS earned Best Original Song for No Time To Die from the James Bond film of the same name
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Audible
Lead Me Home
The Queen of Basketball – WINNER
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Summer of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) – WINNER
Writing with Fire
VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune – WINNER
Free Guy
No Time To Die
Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Epic: Dune swept the technical awards as Greig Fraser is shown accepting the Best Cinematography gong
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune (Greig Fraser) – WINNER
Nightmare Alley (Dan Lausten)
The Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bruno Delbonnel)
West Side Story (Janusz Kaminski)