Al Pacino on the inside story of The Godfather: ‘I was told, you’re not cutting it’

When he bagged the lead role, he couldn’t believe his luck. But after just a week of filming he was on the brink of being fired. In an exclusive extract from his new book, the actor recalls the making of the film that changed his life

One day in the middle of the afternoon, I got a phone call. On the other end of the line, I heard the name and the voice of the director who would change my life: Francis Ford Coppola. First, he told me he was going to be directing The Godfather. I thought he might be fantasising. What was he talking about? How did they give him The Godfather?

I had read Mario Puzo’s novel, which had become a big hit; it was a huge deal for anyone to be involved with it. But when you’re a young actor you don’t even put your eyes on those things. Just getting any part in a film is a miracle. Opportunities like those don’t exist for you. It just seemed so outrageous. And then I thought: Hey, maybe this is possible. I had spent time with Francis in San Francisco. He was a leader, a doer and a risk taker. I saw that he carried himself with confidence, and that gave me faith in him. But this wasn’t a thing that was done at the time. Wouldn’t the studio, Paramount, go to older directors who had reputations, not this talented, young avant-garde intellectual? It didn’t fit with my perception of Hollywood.

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