The Joe Spinell Story2001

William Lustig:
Joe did not have a bank account because him and the IRS did not see eye-to-eye about finances. Up ontil the day he died, Joe would get these residual checks from his first movie role in The Godfather. During the mid 1970s, he would show up at my office downtown with these checks asking, "Bill, do you think when you have time, could you go down to your bank and cash this $16,000 check for me?" Every month I would see this huge residual checks he was getting from The Godfather. Finally one day I asked him, "How did you get this? How come you're getting all this money?" He replied, "Well, I was the second highest paid person on The Godfather". That's when he sat down and told me the story. He was hired by Francis Ford Coppola as a day player. Coppola loved Joe and loved his looks and charisma so much that he kept him on the picture for over six months. Despite that Joe was uncredited with his role, all of the other actors, with the exception of Marlon Brando, were being payed what was known as schedule ad-SAG minniumum. A Screen Actor's Guild rep would log Joe in as being on the job every day during the six-month production. So as a result, Joe was ending up receiving residual checks a few thousand dollars more then most of the other lead actors.