Robert De Niro Audition For GodFather II

"I make him an offer he don' refuse. Don' worry." Vito

"I make him an offer he don' refuse. Don' worry." Vito

Winning Audition

Robert deniro original audition for The GodFather II (1974)

Directed by Francis Ford Copolla.

Starring Al Pacino, Robert Deniro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Lee Strasberg and others. 

Here is an interesting audition of Robert De Niro for the part of Sonny Corleone in The GodFather II. The part of sonny eventually went to James Caan. Robert De Niro played the young Vito Corleone and won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrail of the young Vito.

What I find interesting in this audition as an actor is how Robert forgets his dialogue and covers it up by repeating the same words, "You Get His " at about the 10 second mark. By repeating the same words again more forcefully it jars your memory back into the moment of the scene. Never, ever stop a scene to restart, because you forgot your lines. Just do what De Niro does in this forgetful moment during an audition and all will be well. Usually it colors the lines and scenes in new ways and shows the director that you can handle a hickup or two under pressure.
The other thing I notice is that in the second take he laughs off the moment he just finished which relaxes the auditioners. Always stay easy going, no matter what happens in an audition. It really helps the auditioners like you and leads to call backs.
Robert has a lot of nervous energy during his audition here. This nervous energy never shows up in his work.
Anyways, glad to see Robert is as human as the rest of us.
Enjoy!



Trivia - Robert prepared for the role of Vito, by living in Sicily for a time.

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