The Offer Showrunner Nikki Toscano On The Unsung Hero Behind The Godfather [Interview]

It’s surreal watching Matthew Goode as Robert Evans, just how close he gets to him and his voice.

The first day that he showed up on set and I heard that voice, all I could think of was Robert Evans’ voice from “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” because I didn’t know Evans personally, so that’s my frame of reference. We were just blown away. It’s pretty remarkable. It’s pretty crazy, right?

It is. “Hunters” was your first showrunning experience, right?

Yes, it was.

What did you learn from that experience you brought to “The Offer?”

I think first and foremost, how you handle your set and the way that you treat your crew. I think that on “Hunters,” it was very important to me and David Wile to make sure that everybody felt that they were part of an experience, like a true collaboration and that everybody was honoring the work of everybody else. There was a strict no assh*le policy on set, which allows people to feel a comfort level of messing up, and on the other hand swinging. And only when you truly swing, much like Matthew Goode did as Robert Evans, can you attain this sort of higher level of quality.

Russell [Rothberg]’s my partner in crime on this. He was another executive producer on the project. I think it was about fostering an environment that allowed everybody to swing at all times because we had this incredible weight, incredible responsibility to honor the making of this, one of the best films ever made that it was. It’s something that I’ll carry on every showrunning job I ever have.

Was that a big weight on your shoulders, the idea of making a show about one of the greatest movies of all time? Or were you trying to simplify it by looking at it as, “Well, this is also just a show about people just trying to achieve a vision?”

I think it was a combination of both. I think I’d be lying if I’m saying it wasn’t a little bit daunting to be attacking particularly “The Godfather,” because I do believe that it’s, universally, one of everybody’s favorite movies. I think that once we realized the specificity of the story that we were telling and Al Ruddy’s journey, this outsider underdog who is not only battling the studio system, but battling the real-life mafia as well, it had these inherent life and death stakes baked in to what was more than just a behind-the-scenes look. The behind-the-scenes, in itself, is compelling. But I think with that added element, it really allowed us to have wings in the writers’ room to do something pretty unique and special.

“The Godfather” is a universally beloved movie, but it’s probably not universally known that Betty McCartt was the unsung hero behind it. Where’d you get most of the information about her?

Only Al’s stories. There isn’t a whole lot on the Internet. When we were talking about Betty McCartt, we knew that she was going to be a very important character. We had been given bits and pieces of information from Al Ruddy. Like, we knew that she was like a no-nonsense broad. We knew that she had direct access to [Gulf and Western magnate] Charlie Bludhorn.

We were trying to think about it, taking this woman that we had all of these details about, and then drop her into a world where she was navigating the sexual politics of 1970. We know women are still disadvantaged today at the workplace. So it’s so incredible to imagine what it must have been like to be true to your voice during that time when you were so much more disadvantaged than today.

She was such a fun character to write, and then to have an extraordinary actress like Juno Temple to bring her to life. Juno has this ability to play the ball-buster side of Betty while also exhibiting this incredible vulnerability, which was truly remarkable to see her bring to life.