Mob lawyers and movie magic got Al Pacino his most legendary role
Think of Michael Corleone, the quiet outsider who becomes the ruthless head of the Corleone mob family. It is difficult not to see the darkened eyes of Al Pacino staring a cold and impenetrable stare back at you. The Godfather has become nearly ubiquitously recognised as one of the greatest movies ever made, and much of that is down to the brilliance of Pacino’s performance.
Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster crime drama told the story of an ageing mafia crime dynasty and its leader, Don Vito Corleone, played amply by Marlon Brando, who begins transferring power to his reluctant son, Michael. Helping to paint a picture of a mafia family where blood is thicker than just about any material gain, Pacino somehow managed to hold his own against the might of Brando’s performance. Though Pacino’s character would be handed far more responsibility in the film’s celebrated 1974 sequel, his performance in the 1972 original cannot be ignored.
“Francis Ford Coppola was the only one who wanted me in ‘The Godfather,’ nobody else wanted me,” Pacino remembered of the decision to give him the role. The truth is, Coppola may have been the starting point, but soon enough, an entire studio were fighting for Pacino in The Godfather.
It has become so notable that the decision to grab Pacino, who was not long out of the stage, having starred in his debut feature-length The Panic In Needle Park the year prior, was even picked out as the focus of a Paramount mini-series, The Offer. The series focused on how writer Mario Puzo and producer Albert S Ruddy came to the cinematic conclusion of Pacino in the lead role.
The two men were desperate to pick out the Broadway-seasoned Pacino as the main man, but the Paramount head of production struggled to see the vision. Robert Evans was desperate for a hit and saw the only way forward for The Godfather was to grab a headline act to work off the powerhouse of Brando. Warren Beatty, Robert Redford and Jack Nicholson were heavyweight names that were thrown around the studio like shot puts. Coppola was not to be moved, though.
Even once Coppola convinced Ruddy and the upper brass that Pacino was right for the part, another obstacle emerged: the actor was already signed on to star in The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight at MGM. Pacino’s agent declined The Godfather outright, citing this contractual obligation. Evans, now convinced of Pacino, had to act with the swiftness of Corleone himself and hired Sidney Korshak, a Hollywood fixer and reputed mob lawyer.
Calling up MGM’s James Aubrey, he managed to convince the studio executive to release Pacino. Aubrey reportedly admitted defeat by calling Evans to say, “The midget is yours.”
When Evans asked what he’d said to Kerkorian to secure Pacino’s release from MGM, Korshak dryly responded: “I asked him if he wanted to finish building his hotel.”
Coppola remembers the decision to cast Pacino: “I chose Al Pacino for the role of Michael because of the personal experience of knowing him and spending some time with him,” he said. “When I was reading The Godfather book, which was after that meeting, every time I came to a scene of Michael Corleone, especially the scenes in Sicily when we’re walking along with the bodyguards, I could only see his face in that role.”
But that doesn’t mean everything was smooth sailing. Pacino was almost fired by Coppola during the filming and reportedly told the actor: “You know how much you mean to me, how much faith I had in you.” But, only a week and a half into shooting, “Francis said, ‘Well, you’re not cutting it.'”
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. 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.'”
Thankfully, the duo settled their issues and began a trilogy that would define both of their legacies. It’s a reminder that while movies are a business, with hundreds and thousands of people working on each production, the singular vision of one artist and the collaboration of another is what makes magic happen.
