Al Pacino is undoubtedly a Hollywood icon and has been so for ages. But he did not reach there without his pwn downfalls. However, the actor has revealed a setback in his career that has left his fans in utter shock.
A good part of the actor’s life has been put on open display in his upcoming memoir ‘Sonny Boy‘. However, none has caught more attention than the revelation that he was nearly canned from his iconic film ‘The Godfather‘ early on during the filming of the movie. Here’s everything the actor has written about it.
Al Pacino Recalls Almost Getting Fired From ‘The Godfather’
‘The Godfather‘ is the very film that catapulted Al Pacino to his iconic status. So it is naturally shocking to find that it almost did not feature him. Pacino, now 84 years old, played Michael Corleone, the reluctant heir to the Corleone mafia empire, in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 masterpiece. But it seems the road to his Oscar-nominated performance wasn’t as smooth as it seemed.
In an extract from ‘Sonny Boy‘, published by The Guardian, Al Pacino has revealed that he had doubts over his part right from the word go. He won the role after his first audition with a scene he wasn’t keen on, as the actor called it emotionally “pared-back” and far too heavy on exposition. Nevertheless, he won Coppola’s approval and landed the role.
While Coppola was in full favor of Pacino, there were critics advising him against it. So for Pacino, the first few days of shooting weren’t quite the confidence-builder. Pacino and co-star Diane Keaton were already on the edge, assigned to shoot the wedding scene. “We were sure we were in the worst movie ever made,” Pacino writes in his book, asserting that the pair would drown their anxiety in drinks after each day’s shoot.
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Meanwhile, word began to spread that Paramount executives weren’t impressed. “The rumor had gotten around the set that I was going to be released from the picture,” Pacino remembers in the book. Even the crew was not comfortable with him.
“You could feel that loss of momentum when we shot. There was discomfort among people, even the crew, when I was working. I was very conscious of that. The word was that I was going to be fired, and, likely, so was the director. Not that Francis wasn’t cutting it – I wasn’t. But he was the one responsible for me being in the film,” Pacino further wrote his book.
Al Pacino Reveals The Moment That “Clicked” And Changed History
To make matters worse, director Francis Ford Coppola called Al Pacino aside, and told him that what he was doing “wasn’t working“. Not knowing what to do with his shots, Pacino became worried that he wasn’t capturing Michael Corleone right.
His intention had been to have Michael a slow-burning enigma: that quiet man who emerges full of potential only over time. “That was the only way this could work,” Pacino said — but neither he nor Coppola knew how to verbalize it.
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“My idea was that this guy comes out of nowhere. That was the power of this characterisation. That was the only way this could work: the emergence of this person, the discovery of his capacity and his potential. By the end of the film, I hoped that I would have created an enigma. And I think that’s what Francis was hoping for also. But neither one of us knew how to explain it to the other,” Pacino writes.
The turning point was an iconic restaurant scene where Michael takes bloody revenge on his enemies. The studio saw it, and something clicked. “Because of that scene, they kept me in the film,” Pacino said. “Because of that scene I just performed, they kept me in the film. So I didn’t get fired from The Godfather,” he added.
And the rest, as they say, is cinematic history! Meanwhile, for fans eager to know more about the legend, Pacino’s book ‘Sonny Boy‘ hits shelves on October 15.
