If he had his way, Paul Sorvino would have starred in “The Godfather” as well as “GoodFellas.”
Several years before he landed the iconic role of mobster Paul Cicero in “GoodFellas,” Sorvino says a woman came between him and the part of Sonny Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 classic “The Godfather,” which ultimately went to James Caan.
At a 25th anniversary screening of “GoodFellas” at Midtown’s CORE: club on Monday night, Sorvino said it all stemmed from a party where Coppola’s date made unwanted advances toward Sorvino, even though he was there with his pregnant wife and completely uninterested in the flirtations.
“He never forgave me for that. That’s the truth,” Sorvino told Page Six. He added, “I don’t know if I would have gotten the role, and it was so beautifully played by Jimmy Caan.”
At 76, Sorvino is now getting ready to make another mob movie, spearheading a project about Paul Castellano, the Gambino family crime boss who was killed outside of Manhattan’s Sparks Steak House in 1985. Sorvino’s set to play the notorious mobster.
“There hasn’t been a good mob movie since ‘GoodFellas,'” Sorvino tells us. “I haven’t seen them all, but I don’t think that’s happened. As a result, I think the opportunity is there to do one with a great deal of reality.”
Sorvino says he has a commitment from a “major” director, and the next step is to ink a deal with a writer and start casting. The movie is tentatively titled “Sparks” or “Murder at Sparks.”
Sorvino’s wife of nearly a year, TV and radio commentator Dee Dee Sorvino, is executive producing. The couple is also working on a cookbook together.