The director almost cut the star-in-the-making out of the family business.
It was also so difficult for the actor to make that he was nearly fired multiple times.
Pacino recalled the rocky road to cinematic glory in his new memoirSonny Boy.
Al Pacino in ‘The Godfather’.Screen Archives/Getty
“And Francis said, ‘Well, you’re not cutting it.'”
Screen Archives/Getty
Pacino continued, “I felt that one in the pit of my stomach.
It’s when it finally hit me that my job was on the line.
Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in ‘The Godfather’.Paramount Pictures
I said to Francis, ‘What do we do here?’
He said, ‘I put together rushes of what we’ve shot already.
Why don’t you take a look at it yourself?
Because I don’t think it’s working.
You’re not working.'”
They wanted Jack Nicholson, They wanted Robert Redford.
They wanted Warren Beatty or Ryan O’Neal."
As Pacino wrote, “That didn’t sound like the guys that the studio wanted.
But that didn’t mean it had to be me.”
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“It was impossible for the impact of the role to come through,” he wrote.
But the pair had developed a rapport that allowed Pacino to help them both shrug off Coppola’s worries.
Then, turn away from them and go to your bride and dance the waltz with her.
After that, go off with her to the car and drive away."
“Why did I ever hire you?
What can you do?”
