Jesse McMullen is 60 years old (Sir Sean Connery was 58 during filming), Vito McMullen is 43 (Dustin Hoffman was 51), and Adam McMullen is 23 (Matthew Broderick was 26).
Director Sidney Lumet and producer Lawrence Gordon agreed that without Sir Sean Connery playing the grandfather, the project might never have gotten off the ground. Gordon recalled: "Sean was the key. We knew the story turned on the charm and appeal of the grandfather. Face it, a man who is encouraging his grandson to take up a life of crime is not, on the surface, an easy guy to like. We needed someone irresistibly charismatic, so the audience would believe that a very bright young man might perceive him as a romantic role model."
Sir Sean Connery said of this movie: "It's a tale of generations. I had some initial reservations, about playing the part of someone who was originally supposed to be quite a bit older, doing all these extraordinary things. But we resolved the age issue early on, and I had complete confidence that Sidney could make the yarn work."
Dustin Hoffman said of Sidney Lumet: "Sidney knows the medium so well. It's like sitting in the back of a jet plane with a pilot who's flown a lot of missions. He tends to go faster, and that makes it scarier. But, in another sense, it's very exciting." Of his character Vito, Hoffman said he "is a father fighting with his own father, over the direction his son will take with his life."