Why The Offer EP Dexter Fletcher keeps getting pulled back to the gangster genre

Dexter Fletcher admits his first viewing of Francis Ford Coppola's classic 1972 gangster movie The Godfather took place in less than optimal conditions.

"I'm pretty sure I was around 17 or 18," says the actor and director, 56. "I lived in a grungy flat in north London with a bunch of actors, and we saw Scarface and then we decided to go visit The Godfather. It was on VHS, not at the cinema unfortunately, back in the mid-'80s."

Even so, did the young Dexter give the film his thumbs-up?

"Yeah, absolutely," he says. "Look, at the time, I probably wouldn't have been able to articulate why I loved it. Only in retrospect can you analytically go, well, it's so layered, it's so compelling, it's so powerful. The power of Brando, the raw energy of Caan, and the outsider's perspective of Pacino, and Fredo there, being the weak one, it's got something for everybody. We see our whole world, and families, reflected in that. But also the layering and the cinematography and the light and all this beautiful rich detail in there. It's easy to see why it's a film that you go back to again and again and again and again, because it always keeps on giving."

Four decades after that initial viewing, the Rocketman filmmaker has returned to The Godfather and to the bio-pic genre with Paramount+ show The Offer, which details the tempestuous making of Coppola's mob masterpiece. Fletcher is both an executive producer on the ten-part series and directed the first three episodes of the show which stars Miles Teller as Godfather producer Albert S. Ruddy, Juno Temple as Ruddy's assistant Bettye McCartt, Matthew Goode as Paramount chief Robert Evans, and Dan Fogler as Coppola.

"It's the untold story of Al Ruddy, the producer of The Godfather, a great unsung hero of it," says Fletcher, who goes on to describes Ruddy as "the man behind the scenes, and behind the power, and behind the faces that we do all know. He really physically achieved getting that film made, through all the trials and tribulations: a film that a studio isn't sure about making with stars that they don't believe in with an untried director and a film about the mafia, [when] nobody believes gangster movies are any good anymore. So, yeah, it really is how something so amazing was born of everything seemingly being so dead-set against it ever happening, and Al Ruddy and how his raw energy powered that through."

As research, Fletcher was able to speak with both Ruddy and Al Pacino who played Fletcher's father in the 1985 period action-drama Revolution.

"Yeah, Al Ruddy, he's still around, and very active and verbose," he says. "So he was a great source of information and story. I sat with Pacino as well and talked with him. I have a relationship with him going back 30-odd years. Some of the others unfortunately are no longer with us. But Robert Evans, who played such a key part, is documented quite diligently by himself with The Kid Stays in the Picture."

Goode is full of praise for Fletcher and the way he helped the British actor inhabit the role of Evans, an iconic and instantly recognizable figure in the world of '70s filmmaking.

"I had four wonderful directors but certainly I was put along the right track by the fabulous Dexter Fletcher," says Goode. "I owe a huge amount to him for giving me not just the job but the confidence to be able to pull it off."

As an actor, Fletcher's own filmography features three notable gangster movies: The Long Good Friday, Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Fletcher's first ever film, 1976's Alan Parker-directed mob-musical Bugsy Malone.

"I remember Alan Parker telling me to look at the camera and say, 'I'm a big movie star now,' which was really odd, because, as a kid, you're told never look at the camera," he says. "But there's a moment when I break the fourth wall and that was Parker being inspired. It's a very funny, great moment. I remember wearing lots of itchy clothes, and having a big baseball bat, and having a lot of fun with the other kids, throwing biscuits at each other. I didn't get to do any singing or dancing, which was a shame as I loved that. I remember going to Pinewood Studios and seeing the sets for the first time, that was very exciting, as I was only 9. The Long Good Friday is another gangster movie that I'm in with Bob Hoskins. It's unmatched, unmatched as yet. It really is fantastic. And then Lock, Stock. So, you're right, I do have a bit of a relationship with [gangster movies]. I'm really a lovely chap as well. I'm not at all a gangster myself!"

In recent years, Fletcher has spent much more time directing than acting, becoming Hollywood's go-to guy for dramatizing recent entertainment history with his movies Eddie the Eagle and the Elton John bio-pic Rocketman. He also helped complete the Queen movie Bohemian Rhapsody following the departure of Bryan Singer from the film. What is the secret to crafting these kind of projects?

"I don't know if there's a secret," he says. "The first bio-pic I did was about a failed Olympic British ski jumper (Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards). The script kind of treated him in a very off-hand comedic way and when meeting Eddie, when he came in and sat with his two young daughters, I learned very quickly that wasn't fair. I had to find what I liked about this man and what I appreciated about him and his achievements, which allowed me to tell a layered version of his story, that allows me artistic license as a storyteller but sticking to some of the facts. The same with Elton. You know, Elton was really generous, he was like, 'Tell it! Just tell it! I don't want to hide anything, I want to get it out there!' It means I didn't have a cuff, as it were, on me, or any sort of shackles on how I chose to tell that story. I think just having a love for your subject really helps. You have to tell the story in the most loving and honest way that you can and create layered real characters rather than caricatures. And I think that's what we achieved [with The Offer]. I hope so."

Fletcher is speaking to EW via Zoom from Atlanta, where he is currently shooting his next movie as director.

"I'm working on a film called Ghosted at the moment with Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, in fact they're calling me back to the set as we speak," he says. "It's an action-romantic-comedy-adventure."

EW is going to be very corny and say that sounds like an offer Fletcher couldn't have refused.

"Ah-hay!" exclaims the director. "It wasn't. It was too good an offer to refuse. Chris Evans and Ana de Armas are both fantastic people. So, yep, I'm very lucky."

The first three episodes of The Offer premieres on Paramount+ April 28. The three Godfather films will also be available to watch on the streaming service from that date.

Watch the cast of The Offer talk about the series above and see the show's trailer below.

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