"Godfather" prequel novel planned
(CBS) Is this how Michael Corleone felt? Just when you thought you escaped "Godfather" books not written by Mario Puzo (who died in 1999), his estate pulls you back in with an authorized prequel.
Sure, that joke is corny. But wringing more story from the "Godfather" saga without its creator seems pretty corny. At least now you won't have to re-read Puzo's original story for the billionth time or suffer through Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather Part III." The book prequel is scheduled be released in June 2012.
BBC News reports that "The Family Corleone" will be written by Ed Falco and has been authorized by Puzo's family. Puzo's 1969 book was an enormous pop culture hit and the first two films he wrote with Francis Ford Coppola, "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II," were box office and critical successes.
The new book will tell the story of Don Vito Corleone's rise in the criminal underworld. (Some of that was covered in Puzo's original novel and the "The Godfather Part II.")
Other "Godfather" books not written by Puzo - "The Godfather Returns" and "The Godfather's Revenge" - were published in 2004 and 2006 and written by Mark Winegardner. Puzo wrote "The Sicilian," a direct sequel to his novel "The Godfather." It was published in 1984 and made into a film directed by Michael Cimino.