The first cut of the movie was 145-minute long.
Giulio Andreotti saw the film at a private preview screening, and reacted as such: "It's very bad, it's a scoundrel, I would say. It tries to turn reality upside down by making me talk to people I have never met". Paolo Sorrentino later commented: "Andreotti reacted in an angry way and this is a good result because usually he is impassive in front of every event. The reaction comforts me and confirms the strength of cinema compared to other critical instruments of reality".
Giulio Andreotti (1919-2013) served as the Prime Minister of Italy for three terms (1972-1973, 1976-1979, and 1989-1992). He was the leader of the political party "Christian Democracy", a Catholic-inspired Christian-democratic party with centrist positions. The party disbanded in 1994, following a number of corruption scandals, and revelations connecting the party to the Mafia.
Giulio Andreotti was sometimes called Divo Giulio (from Latin Divus Iulius, "Divine Julius", an epithet of Julius Caesar after his posthumous deification).
Fictional characters have been influenced by his image as a Machiavellian. A rejoinder that Giulio Andreotti made in reply to an inquiry if being in power was wearing him out, "Power wears out those who don't have it", was put into the mouth of the character of a powerful Mafia-linked politician in the film The Godfather Part III.