Robert Duvall Plays Tom Hagen, the Don's Consigliere, in The Godfather® II.

Read what JC had to say below:

In the game (and movie), Tom Hagen serves as the Don’s Consigliere, which is a special role in the Mafia hierarchy. Basically, a Consigliere is like an adviser to the boss – he’s the only man who’s allowed to provide unbiased counsel and critique the Don’s decisions. One of our design goals for The Godfather II was to make players feel like a real Don, so obviously, we wanted them to have their own Consigliere. And who better to fill that spot than the man who practically invented the role – Robert Duvall!

Players will first meet Tom Hagen about one-third of the way through the game. At that point in the story, Michael Corleone comes under investigation by the United States Senate, regarding his alleged connections to organized crime. To keep Tom Hagen isolated from the investigation, Michael allows Tom to join Dominic’s family. (Dominic is the game’s hero, controlled by the player.) This moment kickstarts a series of events that eventually lead to Dominic’s rise as America’s most prominent mob boss, followed by his eventual fall due to some treachery and deceit from within the family. Throughout it all, Tom Hagen stands by Dominic’s side, and gives him advice on how to deal with the rival families. My advice to players? Talk to Tom whenever you can – he has a lot of good pointers.

Obviously, the only actor we ever considered for the role of Tom Hagen was Robert Duvall. We had an opportunity to work with him in Santa Fe, where he was shooting a movie. Mr. Duvall is a stand-up guy – very friendly, easy to work with, and an amazing actor. He told us stories about how he prepared for the role, drawing on childhood stories of buddies who were involved in “The Life,” and how they valued loyalty above all else.

Mr. Duvall hit all his lines perfectly, and really sounded like he was drawing on his memories of being on the Godfather movie set – even after he stepped off it over thirty years ago! Having an actor like him work on your game is really special, and I hope you enjoy his performance when you play the game!