there was much tension between coppola and paramount. francis ford coppola wanted the movie to be in the 1940s and 1950s like the book. he also wanted a larger budget to make the film in new york city and sicily. paramount allowed this because the book was so popular. the studio had wanted a low-budget film because previous films were unsuccessful. coppola did many screen tests, which cost money. there were disagreements about whether to have marlon brando and al pacino in the film. coppola wanted the actors, but evans did not. some people wanted to fire coppola, but he eventually had several people fired.