 In a interview with "Cigar Aficionado" magazine, director  Francis Ford Coppola (qv) claimed that Paramount executives  initially would offer Marlon Brando (qv) only union scale for the  role of Don Corleone. Ernest Borgnine (qv) had been the studios  original choice to play the Don, but Coppola wanted Brando or  Laurence Olivier (qv), as he considered them the two greatest  actors in the world. Olivier was sick and accepting no film  assignments. Brandos previous film, _Queimada (1969)_ (qv), had  been a terrible flop and he could not get work in American pictures,  being considered by many producers as "washed up". Finally, the  studio relented and paid Brando $300,000, according to Coppolas  account. In his autobiography  _Kid Stays in the Picture, The (2002)_ (qv), former Paramount  production chief Robert Evans (I) (qv) claims that Brando was paid  $50,000, plus points, and sold back his points to Paramount before  the release of the picture for an additional $100,000 because he had  female