# The legendary 1970s movie Robert De Niro called “the best job I never got”

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/the-legendary-1970s-movie-robert-de-niro-called-the-best-job-i-never-got/
- Published: 2026-07-23T18:15:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-28T22:55:44+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/legendary-movie-robert-de-niro-called-best-job-never-got/
- Topics: Entertainment, Film

## Key points

- Rejection from *The Godfather* led De Niro to *Part II*.
- James Caan played Sonny Corleone.
- De Niro won his first Oscar as young Vito.

## Summary

Robert De Niro described being rejected for the role of Sonny Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s *The Godfather* as “the best job I never got”. The missed part mattered because it left him available to play the young Vito Corleone in *The Godfather Part II*, a role that became a defining early achievement in his career.

De Niro auditioned for Sonny, the volatile son of Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone, but James Caan was cast instead. After the first film’s success, Coppola made the sequel around Michael Corleone’s rise and Vito’s earlier life; De Niro’s performance as young Vito won him his first Academy Award and followed his breakthrough collaboration with Martin Scorsese on *Mean Streets*.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.