We've hashed over all this stuff before, but why not? I've been away from the boards a while

Casting ideas and some plot points:

Michael Corleone, age 77: Al Pacino
Connie Corleone, age 70: Talia Shire
Vincent Corleone, age 52: Andy Garcia
Kay Adams (Corleone) Michelson (now widowed), age 72: Diane Keaton


Anthony Corleone, age 44: Edward Norton (Recast)
Michael Rizzi-Corleone, age 48: Robert Downey, Jr.
Santino Corleone, Jr., age 57: Sean Penn
Francesca and Kathryn Corleone, age 52, Jill and Jacqueline Hennessy (The actors don't have to be twins because both would rarely be on camera at the same time. But it would help.)

The plot opens in 1995 as Michael, in fragile but not invalid health, in semi-retirement in Sicily, returns to New York "settle his affairs."

Vincent has been running the Corleone Family since the attack of 1980, but is now facing challenges from Russian mobsters and Chinese and South American drug dealers as well as law enforcement both in the US and worldwide. Through involvement in drug running and international arms trafficking, the Corleone Group is also becoming entangled in Middle East terrorism.

After Mary's death, Vincent married Grace Hamilton. They had four kids (Lucy, Carmela, Giorgio and Giuseppe 'J.J.') in the 1980s before divorcing in 1991. (She can be deceased if Bridget Fonda is absolutely no-go on a cameo.)

Connie has been serving as unofficial Consiglera, advising Vincent on political moves among Mafia families in the U.S, and increasingly ordering more hits against family targets. The feds are closing in on her as one of the central figures in U.S. organized crime activities and have evidence of her involvement in dozens of murders.

Anthony returned to law school after Mary's death, joined the law practice of B.J. Harrison and took over upon Harrison's mysterious death in 1992. He is now the Corleone Family's main legal counsel.

Andrew Hagen, Tom's son, remained in Rome after the death of Pope John Paul, and rose as a legal expert in Vatican hierarchy under Pope Kristopher, the popular Polish pontiff who succeeded JP. As GF IV opens in 1995, Pope Kristopher is in failing health and rumors are that he may appoint Hagen as a Cardinal in the U.S., where several large archdioceses are facing dramatic problems due to sex abuse scandals. Hagen knows about the Imobilare deal with the Corleone Group.

(The interests of the Vatican in the Corleone Group, and vice versa, should be kept mainly as a background theme in the plot of GF IV. GF III was over-dominated by Vatican politics and machinations. They should only be a background angle in GF IV.)

Michael Rizzi-Corleone, Connie's son, in federal prison during the events of GF III, completed his sentence in 1984, and returned to family operations. With a decade of hard jail time behind him, he is the most hard-bitten Corleone cousin and frustrated at his subsidiary role to Vincent. (Connie's older son, Victor, was killed in a botched robbery during the 1970s.)

Santino Corleone Jr., in "legitimate" real estate business in Florida during the events of GF III, went deep into debt during the early 1980s, and asked his illegitimate brother to be included in the family business. Vincent agreed, and the two sons of Sonny have worked together in an uneasy truce, often mediated by their cousin, family legal counsel Anthony.

Sonny's twin daughters Francesca and Kathryn Corleone, both married off in the "legitimate world" in GF II and III, and now both divorced and seeking places in the family business. Like their aunt Connie, they have reverted to using the Corleone family name.

Kathryn is a "legitimate" PR person for the Corleone Group, while Francesca "Franny" is involved in high stakes real estate trading (reputedly very shady). Franny also has twin sons, V. J. and Andolini (Andy), now both thirtyish, who are amassing a reputation as muscle men and contract killers. She wants a larger role in the family business but both Vincent and Connie are resisting.

The storyline starts in 1995-97 with the infighting among the Corleone cousins for control of the family, includes Michael's death in 1997, then follows Connie's prosecution by federal law enforcement agents, and ultimately ends on Sept. 11, 2001 as Corleone Group holdings are seriously damaged in the WTC attacks, in which some family members and rivals in the Mafia hierarchy are killed.