Try asking a major star to play a real Mafia head, a man who makes a living off whores and child pornography, heroin and blood

Here is one of the basic lessons a screenwriter must learn and live with: Stars will not play weak and they will not play blemished, and you better know that now.

Sure, Brando and Pacino will play mafia chieftans in The Godfather. But those are cute Mafia chieftains. They're only warring on bad Mafia guys and crooked cops; they're only trying to hold the family business together. Try asking a major star to play a real Mafia head, a man who makes a living off whores and child pornography, heroin and blood; sorry folks, those parts go to the character actors or the has-beens. Or actors on the come who haven't achieved star status.

W. Goldman, Adventures in the screen trade (1983), 37