Nicolas Cage Opens Up About The Time He Pleaded To Be Cast In Godfather III

Some family get-togethers end with everyone getting way too drunk and honest. Some end with a wholesome board game or a movie marathon. But if you're Nicolas Cage, they end with you begging your uncle for a role in the "Godfather" franchise, only to be cruelly set aside. I honestly don't know which one is worse. I mean, hangovers suck and some board games are annoying, but the shame that comes along with pleading to be cast in a movie your uncle refuses to cast you in has to be worse than any hangover or round of Monopoly. Especially when that movie's themes are all about the power of family.

Despite the unadulterated humiliation, Cage told the whole story in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, and while it might be embarrassing for him, it's pretty damn funny. As Cage tells it:

So Uncle [Francis Ford Coppola] was doing Godfather III, and I said, "I really think I ought to be in your movie, Uncle. I really think it's a good idea if you would cast me. I think I could play this part."

For those of you just finding out that Nicolas Cage (whose non-professional name is Nicolas Kim Coppola) is related to "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola – welcome to the party! If Cage would have dropped it there and let it go, it might have been fine. Hell, maybe Coppola would have let those words slosh around and his brain and we'd be living in a world where Cage was in "The Godfather: Part III," but he didn't and we aren't. Cage added to his pitch, saying:

He was going to cast Andy Garcia, and I said, "But I just see myself more as James Caan's son, and he's playing Sonny's son. He's not playing Michael's son. He's Sonny's son. I just feel a little more James Caan."

Of course, Cage is talking about the role of Vincent Corleone, Sonny Corleone's son and cousin of Al Pacino's Michael Corleone (just in case you need a primer on the Corleone family tree). Despite his pleading, Andy Garcia was cast in the role and his performance even netted him an Academy Award nomination, which must have stung for Cage. Although we think of "The Godfather: Part III" as a family affair since Sofia Coppola was cast in the role of Mary Corleone, it wasn't meant to be and Cage definitely knew it:

It just wasn't going to happen. Nope, not going to happen. So that was a movie I didn't get let in that I really wanted to be in. There.

Considering "The Godfather Part: III" is considered the worst in "The Godfather" franchise, you have to wonder who felt the most embarrassed the next time Cage and Uncle Coppola spent some time together. Like with most family disagreements, you're always left wondering ... who actually won here?