Andy Garcia would have directed ‘The Godfather 4’ if Coppola had given the ok

• Andy Garcia, who played Vincent in “The Godfather Part III,” told Insider he would direct a part 4 of “The Godfather” if Francis Ford Coppola asked him.
• Garcia had an idea of ​​what the fourth installment of the family mafia franchise might be since the 1990s.
• At the time, Garcia even had Leonardo DiCaprio interested in playing a young Sonny Corleone.
• Garcia also believes there may also be a limited series of “Vincent”.
• Visit the Insider home page for more stories.

With Francis Ford Coppola reissuing “The Godfather Part III” in his true vision with the release of “The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone by Mario Puzo”, in some cinemas on Friday, there was talk of a “Godfather. 4 “. And Andy Garcia is all for it.

Garcia played Vincent, Sonny Corleone’s illegitimate son, in the third installment of the acclaimed “The Godfather” saga, which looks at the Corleone mafia family, based on author Mario Puzo’s book series. In the film, he becomes the main muscle for Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and ultimately gains the title of Godfather as Michael vanishes from the family business.

Since the 1990s, Garcia has had an idea of ​​what the fourth episode might entail and, speaking to Zoom, told Insider that he is willing to direct it – if Coppola, who directed the original “The Godfather” films, gave his blessing.

“Absolutely, command me however you want,” Garcia said without hesitation when asked if he would consider directing “Godfather 4.”

“Whatever Francis wants, I would never question it. I owe him,” she added. “I just need your blessing.”

Garcia said that soon after the completion of “Godfather III”, there was a brief moment when a fourth film was explored. And it would lead Robert De Niro to reprise his role as “Godfather Part II” as the young Vito Corleone with Leonardo DiCaprio joining Sonny Corleone.

Garcia said the story structure would mirror “The Godfather II” in which he will move back and forth for two time periods. In the present, Vincent di Garcia, now the Godfather, takes the family business back into more illegal operations. As he went back to the 1930s, he followed a young Sonny Corleone.

“Maybe Vincent has something to do with the cartel at the time,” Garcia explained. “And then let’s go back to the 1930s, in the happy years when the Corleones killed everyone and nobody killed them.”

And Garcia revealed that he was the one who interested DiCaprio in playing Sonny, originally played by James Caan in “The Godfather.”

“My manager at the time represented Leonardo DiCaprio and they were working with Francis on a project and I just said that Francis always had this idea for another ‘Godfather’,” Garcia said. “I said Leo DiCaprio is the right age – we’re in the 90s – to play a young Sonny in the 30s. And De Niro could play Vito because he’d be the right age for him in the 30s. the other side of the story would be me and Al returning as Michael. Maybe he’s still alive and I can still talk to him for advice. “

Garcia said DiCaprio was interested and even got to the point where Coppola told Paramount to hire Puzo to write the story.

“But Mario died a month later,” said Garcia of the author, who wrote the original book series. “The fact that Mario wasn’t around took the wind out of the sails for Francis.”

However, decades later Garcia is still excited to play Vincent again, a role that earned him his only Oscar nomination to date.

“For Paramount, it’s a franchise. Even if I wanted to do a limited series called ‘Vincent’ that doesn’t have anything to do with the other films,” he added, “people want to see it.”

And Garcia taking over the direction wouldn’t be a stroke of luck. In 2005 he directed the drama set in Cuba “The Lost City”.

It’s unclear if Coppola will ever direct another “Godfather”, but he previously said he wouldn’t be surprised if there were others.

“There may very well be a ‘Godfather IV’ and ‘V’ and ‘VI’,” Coppola recently told the New York Times. “I don’t own ‘The Godfather'”.

Over the years, Garcia has said he has a simple approach: “I’m fine if it never happens, but I’m ready if it does.”

“The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone” will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on December 8th.