An offer they had to refuse... See Robert De Niro's FAILED audition as Sonny Corleone for The Godfather (but he did win an Oscar for his role in Part II)

The movie is 1972's The Godfather, and it's the pivotal and bloodthirsty scene where Santino 'Sonny' Corleone is speeding towards the Palm Beach toll booth, so gripped with rage that he does not realise he is driving into an ambush.
As machine gun fire rakes Sonny's car and body, the camera tilts up to see the grimacing face of... Robert De Niro?
Anyone who has seen the film knows that the hot-headed mobster Sonny is played brilliantly by James Caan - and that De Niro played a young Vito Corleone two years later in the 'prequel' The Godfather Part II.
But it turns out De Niro had also auditioned for the part of Sonny in the first film, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and had been rejected despite a mesmerising screen test.

The now 70-year-old two-time Academy Award winner was not even 30 at the time of the audition, and he was hoping a leading role in a big Hollywood film would launch his career.

Back in the day: Robert De Niro's audition for the part of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather has surfaced

As it happens, De Niro's break didn't come until he teamed up with Martin Scorsese for 1973's Mean Streets - and he won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor the following year as the up-and-coming Corleone family boss Vito in the second instalment of the Godfather trilogy.In the audition tape, a young De Niro is seen wearing a black trilby hat and a buttoned-up grey shirt as he spins around before facing the camera.

With a slightly psychotic smile - of the kind used to great effect four years later in Taxi Driver - De Niro delivers a version of Sonny's famous line: 'That's what you do, you get his brains all over your nice Ivy League suit. You can prove it to me, go ahead and do it.'

Watch Robert De Niro's failed Godfather audition

Magnetic: In the audition tape, a young De Niro is seen wearing a black trilby hat as he spins around lightheartedly before facing the camera

Delivering with panache: 'That's what you do, you get his brains all over your nice Ivy League suit,' he says with a cheeky smile

Charisma: De Niro's star quality was clear to see as he charmed his way through the audition

As some online commentators have noted, De Niro was perhaps considered too young for the role of Sonny. Other well-documented sources point to friction between the studio Paramount and the director - where Coppola's choice of Al Pacino in the lead role of Michael Corleone was only 'allowed' by Paramount if James Caan took the role of Sonny.
Caan had originally auditioned for the part of Michael.  

Coppola later commented about De Niro's audition, saying: 'He was spectacular, but it was Sonny really like killer, nothing you could ever sell.'

Not quite right: De Niro was perhaps too cocky and lighthearted to play the hot-tempered Sonny, ultimately portrayed by James Caan (second from right)

De Niro recently admitted he was grateful that he only found fame in his thirties.

'I did Godfather II when I was 31, so I had all my young life before that hit,' he told Parade.com in 2011. 'I see some actors, they’re so young when they start, and that’s okay, but it’s a different experience.

'You've got to handle it because if you don’t handle it, you’re going to blow it and it’s all going to go and then what? So it’s a good thing to have some kind of foundation and if you’ve had a little obscurity in your life, that’s good.' 

All worth it: De Niro went on to win an Oscar for his portrayal as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part Two 

Wise: De Niro recently admitted he was grateful that he only found fame in his thirties, pictured last month in Tokyo