Originally posted by EnzoBaker:
You sure? I read at some point that the street parade sequences were shot early in the filming, before it was a sealed deal that Castellano was not coming back as Clemenza.
To me, it is clear that after the actual start of filming of GF II, the focus of the story line changed due to Castellano's bailing out. Had they known all along that Clemenza was going to be out of the picture for most of the 1958-59 sequence, they wouldn't have devoted all that time to him in the back story.
Castellano's refusal to appear in Part II was known before the filming started in October '73.
The young Clemenza scenes (in the flashback sequences) had to be included because Clemenza was a big character in Part I. If the producers totally wrote him out and included young Frank Pentangeli scenes (in the flashbacks) people would ask, "Who the hell is this guy and why wasn't he in Part I"? It was easier to kill off Clemenza.
"The Godfather Legacy" by Harlan Lebo has some info on this.
