The Godfather stars Robert Duvall in the character of Tom Hagen; Credits: Mental Floss

The Godfather is a classic film from the 1970s, starring Robert Duvall as the lead character. Featuring the brilliance of Francis Ford Coppola behind the camera, the film was a defining moment for actor Duvall in his acting career. 

The film has now reached 50 years of completion this year, marking a special milestone for the actor. Robert Duvall recently talked with Screen Rant and shared his experiences from the film sets. 

He opened up about the legendary direction of Coppola and how the director respected Duvall, the stress they received to make The Godfather an exceptional film for years to come, and how James Caan helped drive away the tensions from the sets. 

Given his long journey with the film, the star also has a few thoughts when it comes to the remake of the cult classic film and how the film helped him find himself as he played the character of Tom Hagen, the King of Gangsters. 

Now, the film is still in talks 50 years later and has become a phenomenon to measure the genius of gangster films. When he realized that The Godfather will be one of those films that can dominate the field even years later, the actor shared that he was oblivious to the film's genius for the better part of the film. 

But around the time they were done with filming about a third of the film, Godfather 1, he understood that the film was something "special."

Duvall also shared what it was like to portray the character written by Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo. Being legends of filmmaking back then, they did not leave much out that the character could bring to the story. 

The Godfather revealed that as an actor, he did not necessarily want to add changes to the portrayal of his character. The little things that he might have introduced to the character of Tom Hagen were not specifically added to the page but were hidden behind the small mannerisms of the character who plays the role. 

Hence, he said that when portraying a character, he hopes that he plays with enough conviction to bring out the truth of the character. And, he also hopes that the portrayal fits right into the bigger picture of the film. 

Thanks to The Godfather, Robert Duvall is one of the legendary actors in the Hollywood industry today, but when he had initially starred in the film, he was just an emerging new face in the scene. The film allowed him the chance to work with Marlon Brando one second time. 

He had previously worked with the actor in 1966 on the film The Chase. Coming back to his second experience of working with Brando, Duvall shared that the actor has more of the same technique as an approach to his characters. 

He would read his lines beforehand just for a little bit, claiming that the process helps him stay "spontaneous." But Duvall believes that even if Brando read his lines thoroughly, he would still stay spontaneous and fresh with his take on the dialogues.  

In his wide and varied career, Duvall got to star in Francis Ford Coppola's works a few times. They worked together on The Rain People, The Godfather, both I and II, and Apocalypse Now. 

He talked about his experience when it came to collaborating with the one-of-a-kind director that Coppola is. Explaining his approach to directing the films, Duvall said that Coppola would sit back and wait for the actor to perform their take on the character. He would first see what the actor has to offer to a certain role. 

He did not believe in dictating the exact terms of the character or defining that an actor only has to perform the specific actions the director has mentioned. He believed in collaborating instead of dictating and always allowed the actors to provide what they could give to their portrayal, a quality which would later define the exceptional magnificence of his films. 

Duvall retold an experience where he worked with a director who commanded his actors to "tense up" when he announced "action." But Coppola had an entirely different approach to his direction. 

Given his allowance to the characters to bring their best to the table, Coppola also refrained from talking a lot. He is a man of fewer words and would simply sit as a witness to the talent of his actors. 

When he had to talk or give feedback, he would talk about the entire portrayal as an "overall thing," instead of stopping the actors frequently to point out their mistakes. His technique did him well while directing The Godfather 1 as the production actually had an alternate director ready in the wings waiting to take over the helm Coppola was not up to the mark. 

But the director was so earnest and brilliant in his work and vision that they ended up not employing the backup director. The specific experience helped Duvall gain a lot of respect for the director and his technique, not to mention his awe-worthy prowess to work in stressful situations. 

Ending his talk, Duvall said that he thinks there should be no further remakes of the film, and the project should be "off-limits" to any studio.