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There is a brief shot in the final episode of Luke Cage Season 2 where Luke has taken over Harlem's Paradise and Misty Knight looks back at him.
It immediately struck me that this shot was remarkably similar to the closing shot of The Godfather
Was this a deliberate reference on the part of the director / writers?
Referenced "word of god" sources preferred.
Yeah, they openly acknowledged that it was a deliberate refrence, from IndieWire:
“Luke Cage” showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker isn’t at all shy when it comes to acknowledging his influences, grinning as he described a jar in his writers’ room that demands a dollar anytime someone makes a reference to “The Wire” or “The Godfather.”
“I come to the room with cash,” Coker laughed.
And that’s clear when you watch the final minutes of “Luke Cage” Season 2, when Luke (Mike Colter) accepts the mantle of leadership from Mariah (Alfre Woodard) over Harlem’s Paradise, and Misty finds herself shut out of the inner sanctum just like Kay Corleone.
“When we were filming that moment, where the door closes on Misty,” Coker said, “I literally had my iPad open to say, ‘okay I want to pause, so that we’re going to match the shot on Kay in reverse.’ We put it in there.”
Coker credited his uncle, Richard Wesley (a writer whose credits include “Uptown Saturday Night” and “Native Son,” with instilling his obsession with the classic Francis Ford Coppola gangster film. “He taught me how to write drama from watching ‘The Godfather.’ I’ve seen ‘The Godfather’ a hundred times at least. Not an exaggeration. I write to it, honestly.”
