Brando's voice is in Godfather

By Tom Bramwell Published 2 August, 2005

EA clarifies the situation.

Electronic Arts has clarified the role of the late, great Marlon Brando in its Godfather game, which recently slipped to 2006.

The publisher had previously said that the decision over whether or not to include voice recordings made before his death had yet to be made. Reports that Brando had to breathe using an oxygen tanks during the session had cast doubt on their quality.

However, EA's head of corporate communications Tammy Schachter says Brando's voice will be present in the game, but perhaps not all of his character Don Corleone's lines will be authentic Brando performances.

"Typically we require multiple sessions with an actor and we were not able to record his complete dialogue before his passing," 1UP reports Schachter as saying. "But, fans of Brando and the Godfather will definitely get to hear his voice in the game."

Actors Robert Duvall and James Caan have already recorded dialogue for the game, reprising their roles from the film series, although Al Pacino has declined to be involved so his likeness and voice will not feature.

Another member of the Godfather film dynasty who will not be featuring is of course director Francis Ford Coppola, who infamously denounced the game earlier this year as "a misuse of film".

"They use the characters everyone knows, and they hire those actors to be there, and only to introduce minor characters," he continued. "And then for the next hour they shoot and kill each other," he said.

The current-generation versions of The Godfather game recently slipped into EA's fourth fiscal quarter (the first three months of 2006) due to quality issues, with next-generation console versions due to follow in fiscal 2007, which means April 2006 or later.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (14) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Bezzy #1 7 years ago

    "a misuse of film". Wow. Get him!

    Misuse of game, more like.

  • Blerk #2 7 years ago

    At the end of the day.... does anyone really care?

  • Rahul #3 7 years ago

    Yeah, that's what I keep wondering. What's the audience for this game? Where did their demographic research show them that making a game out of the Godfather will prove commercially viable? So far I've not seen a single person who's particularly excited about it either way.

  • Blerk #4 7 years ago

    And even those who are... would their purchasing decision really be swayed either way by a Brando voice-over?

  • wattoo #5 7 years ago

    apparnetly all he says is

    "Challenge Everyth....ugh"

  • valli #6 7 years ago

    LOL @ wattoo!

  • Celeborn #7 7 years ago

    It's one thing EA beating down and abusing franchises / parts of franchises til theyre dead. Now they're doing the same when members of that franchise were already dying (during making) and now dead.

    Hail our merciless leaders, EA!

  • octo #8 7 years ago

    The research was probably conducted by the same team responsible for asking people about the use of the Goldeneye moniker.

    "All Hail our Merciless leaders"

    :-)

  • Zuiyo #9 7 years ago

    A Godfather videogame featuring Brando's octogenarian voice (with the oxygen tank hissing in the background)... yawn.

    Stop developing shit nobody cares about! Create some good original games, for Puzo's sake!

  • regmund #10 7 years ago

    Coppola is a fine one to talk, he hasn't made anything worth watching since godfather!

  • kangarootoo #11 7 years ago

    "Now they're doing the same when members of that franchise were already dying (during making) and now dead. "

    Yeah, cos I'm sure Brando was gutted to be asked and probably hated every minute of it, especially when he could have been dying in a hospital instead of out doing the work he loved.


    "Where did their demographic research show them that making a game out of the Godfather will prove commercially viable?"

    Well wherever it was from, its probably sliiiightly more reliable that our "lets just make shit up" approach.

  • TS2610 #12 7 years ago

    Coppola is a fine one to talk, he hasn't made anything worth watching since godfather!

    As far as I'm concerned, with the Godfather (1 and 2) and Apocalypse Now, Coppola has earned the right to sit on his arse for the rest of his life.

  • el_pollo_diablo #13 7 years ago

    "Brando had to breathe using an oxygen tanks during the session"

    He was still well enough to take the gig though (or so he thought at the time). I say EA should sue his mouldering corpse for breach of contract.

    I'm not going to buy this game. It looks shit.

  • Genji #14 7 years ago

    I think it's too early to tell whether I'll be buying it or not. Having Marlon Brando's voice is a non-issue, I agree.