'The Offer' Has Gone Out To Juno Temple To Join The Paramount+ Series About The Making Of 'The Godfather'

Juno Temple can currently be seen as part of the outstanding cast of Ted Lasso on Apple TV+, and she's about to adding another streaming series to her résumé. Paramount+ has added Juno Temple to the upcoming limited event series The Offer, the series which will chronicle the making of the 1972 Best Picture winner The Godfather. 

Deadline has news on The Offer bringing in Juno Temple for what promises to be a meaty role. Miles Teller (Whiplash) is already on board as Al Ruddy, producer of The Godfather, and Matthew Goode (Watchmen) has taken the role of infamous studio head Robert Evans. Meanwhile, Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts) will play The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola and Colin Hanks is portraying Barry Lapidus, an executive at the conglomerate Gulf & Western who held a lot of sway over Paramount Pictures at the time.

Juno Temple will be playing Bettye McCartt, assistant to Al Ruddy during the film's production. McCartt's career began as publicist for 20th Century Fox and she worked as an assistant on both The Godfather and The Longest Yard before she became an agent and manager to the lines of Tom Selleck, Maureen O'Hara, Anthony Quinn, George Clooney, Billly Dee Williams, and many more.

McCartt was integral in the film's production, and there are a couple stories involving her from behind the scenes that have made their way into the trivia of The Godfather. When Ruddy was warned about the mafia following his car (the real Mob really, really didn't want The Godfather made), he would switch cards with McCartt in an effort to lose them. One night, her car had the windows shot out and a note left behind said, "Shut down the movie or else." That sounds like a dramatic turn of events that deserves to be in the movie.

Another story had McCartt being on the receiving end of a much nicer gift from the mob. In case you didn't know, the character of Luca Brasi in The Godfather was played by Lenny Montana, a real mafia enforcer who was originally hired as the bodyguard for someone from the Italian-American Civil Rights League (and the Colombo crime family) to ensure the word "mafia" was never said on set. But director Francis Ford Coppola became entranced by the man's towering appearance and demeanor and gave him the role of Luca Brasi.

What does McCartt have to do with Lenny Montana? At some point during production (via Vanity Fair), McCartt had broken her watch. Lenny Montana took notice and gave her an an antique, diamond encrusted timepiece as a replacement. Montana said it was from "the boys," and advised that she never wear the watch in Florida. That also sounds like an amusing and ominous detail to put into the limited series.

The Offer is a 10-episode limited event series from Paramount Television Studios that already has a straight-to-series commitment from Paramount+. The series will be written and executive produced by Nikki Toscano, who will also be acting as showrunner. Michael Tolkin (Escape at Dannemora, The Player) is also working as writer and executive producer, in addition to creating the series. Teller and Ruddy will also be credited as executive producers with Leslie Grief. Rocketman filmmaker Dexter Fletcher is directing the pilot and several other episodes in addition to executive producing.

Paramount+ hasn't set a release date for The Offer, but we'll be keeping an eye on this one, so stay tuned.