Were we supposed to find her attractive in Godfather?

Was it nepotism?

Coppola cast Winona Ryder as her. Who collapsed from “nervous exhaustion” just before they were scheduled to start filming.

Given how important the character was they had to either wait for her to “recover”. How ever long that would take. Recast with another big name somehow that would slot in quickly (Madonna famously really campaigned hard for the role but she was over 30, Coppola considered rewriting the character to be a different relative for it to make sense but ultimately decided not to)

So when Ryder dropped out, tons of money was lost every day the production was paused. Sofia knew all the lines because she was the one who practiced the characters lines with the other actors since Ryder wasn’t there for rehearsals, instead filming other stuff. So she could easily be slotted in

I find it reductive when people just say “muh nepotism” for this specific case. Nobody seems to say it when Coppola cast his sister Talia Shire in the first movie (something he also didn’t plan to do, and had to use her when nobody else was available or knew the lines)

The difference is this was Sofia Coppola’s first real acting role, and it was way too big for her. She simply wasn’t good enough at the time.

I don’t particularly get the “she isn’t attractive enough” angle though, she looks hot to me. Also she’s clearly meant to look very Italian which she does

WTF!