To celebrate "The Godfather" turning 50 in 2022, The Hollywood Reporter sat down with actors James Caan, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire, and John Martino, who reflected on the creation and enduring legacy of director Francis Ford Coppola's cinematic masterpiece. Shire expressed her admiration for Marlon Brando's "breathtaking" transformation into the formidable Don Corleone.

"When he came to the set the first time, he was this handsome male," she recalled, but he utilized various makeup and acting techniques to transform himself into a weathered and wise mafioso, making him almost unrecognizable. The use of dental prosthetics gave Brando protruding jowls that made him resemble a bulldog, somehow lending Don Corleone a more dignified power.

Shire said that Brando also employed another unique performance method called "active listening" during filming. "It's not always when you say your lines that you pay attention; it is the listening to all the others around you.