Legendary actor Al Pacino is perhaps best known for playing the infamous mobster Micheal Corleone in the “Godfather” movie trilogy.
But according to Pacino, the role that changed his life almost didn’t happen.
In his new memoir, “Sonny Boy,” which was released Oct. 8, Pacino said the studio wanted to boot him from the iconic role of Michael Corleone, and never wanted him to play the character from the start.
According to Pacino, he claimed the studio instead had their eyes set on Ryan O’Neal, Robert Redford or Warren Beatty to play Corleone.
But according to Pacino, it was a little stroke of luck from director Francis Ford Coppola that kept Pacino in the role.
Pacino said in the memoir that he incurred an issue with the studio approximately a week and a half into filming and said that Paramount was displeased with his performance.
Coppola took him to a restaurant to discuss the matter.
“You know how much you mean to me,” Coppola said to Pacino, “how much faith I had in you. Well, you’re not cutting it.”
Pacino recalled that he told Coppola he was underplaying his character deliberately.
“My idea was that this guy comes out of nowhere,” Pacino wrote in his book.
Coppola expedited the filming of the famous restaurant shooting scene “to give the doubters back in Hollywood some incentive to believe in me and keep me in the picture,” Pacino said.
Pacino didn’t indicate whether Coppola moved up filming the scene specifically for him, but he made it clear the director was the reason he was able to stay on.
“They knew I was going through a difficult time, feeling like I had the world on my shoulders, knowing that any day the axe could fall on me… Sterling and Al Lettieri helped keep up my morale; they set a one and were role models for me,” Pacino said.
Pacino was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the film.