Wow, I live not too far from this estate. I live just off Clove Road in Staten Island, that puts me about 10 to 12mins drive to the Norton Estate where 'The Godfather' movie was shot.. Yay!!!* You know what I found out recently? Apparently, Staten Island used to be the place where you'll find the biggest mobsters in America, this may be the reason the popular America reality TV show, 'Mob Wives' is being shot here. Truth be told, Staten Island is the best borough in New York (...after Manhattan).. in my opinion.. Mob *things or not in Staten Isand which BTW is largely a thing of the past, is a very neat place (very much so) compared to Queen's, Brooklyn and the Bronx, it's also a very quiet place to reside and of course it's an island. Staten Island is cool like that.. Wink. You can like to read excerpt from an article I found online >>
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Just as it was in the movie, the house, at 110 Longfellow Avenue in Staten Island, is a family estate, owned by the Nortons. Ed Norton III and has been in the Norton family for more than 50 years.
Norton says Coppola and company used his family's home for more than a year, and his mother recorded her own behind-the-scenes film of the 1972 flick. In fact, Mrs. Norton filmed more than eight hours of material, which her son says may end up on a DVD someday (note to Paramount: Mrs. Norton's footage would make a great addition to the inevitable 40th anniversary 'Godfather' DVD re-release that's right around the corner, hmmm?).
Location as Character: Not only was the Corleone mansion the site of 'The Godfather's' beginning -- Connie's wedding -- but it was also the site of The Godfather's end. From hosting Connie's wedding, where Mama Corleone sang, Frank Sinatra-ish heartthrob Johnny Fontane (Al Martino) made a special appearance and sang to the bride, and hothead brother Sonny Corleone (James Caan) threw a hissy fit about the government agents who were staking out that place; to serving as the Corleone "family" meeting place when the mobsters were planning to go to the mattresses to the death of Don Vito, it all happened at the Corleone estate.
What might have been: Initially, Paramount execs balked at Coppola's plan to use real-world locations to make the movie, instead of much cheaper studio sets. But when Mario Puzo's 'The Godfather' novel, on which the movie series is based, began to sell millions of copies, studio honchos had to admit there was an audience for the mobster tale and signed off on Coppola's proposal. There was just one more hurdle to overcome to film at the Norton family's home. Much of the look of the estate in the movie -- including the giant stone walls that enclosed the Corleone house -- were constructed just for filming. The production's designers made many modifications to the homestead, in fact, which Mrs. Norton OK'ed, as long as Coppola and company agreed to pay to have everything restored to its original state once filming wrapped.
Historical Significance: Without 'The Godfather,' there would have been no 'Sopranos,' one of the greatest TV dramas of all time, and no 'Goodfellas,' another great, Oscar-winning mobster flick; not to mention the fact that 'The Godfather' launched the careers of unknowns Coppola and Al Pacino. 'The Godfather' would go on to win three Oscars itself (including Best Picture) and place second on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest movies. Coppola's movie was a "touchstone for films about organized crime." Movie mobsters were, previously, fairly one-dimensional characters (i.e. gun-toting bad guys), and Coppola fleshed them out to tell not only a crime story, but also one of the greatest family stories ever filmed, too.
Read More A Novel: 'Mob Daughter' by Karen Gravano, A Real #Mob'sDaughter
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