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“The Godfather” could have turned out to be a completely different flick, because it turns out Al Pacino was very nearly given the axe from his iconic portrayal of Michael Corleone!
The role eventually landed Al an Oscar nom, so it’s wild to think the studio initially wanted Ryan O’Neal, Robert Redford, or Warren Beatty instead. And, even after director Francis Ford Coppola championed Pacino for the gig, the journey to prove the naysayers wrong was super rocky.
Al spills the tea in his memoir “Sonny Boy” … saying just a week and a half into filming, Francis dropped the bomb that Paramount wasn’t feeling him for the role.
Francis even showed him footage of his performance, and Al acknowledged he wasn’t killing it, despite admitting he was deliberately underplaying Michael because he wanted to explore the character’s journey and potential.
Luckily, Francis still had Al’s back, and he bumped up the filming of the iconic restaurant shooting scene to show the Paramount bosses what he was made of.
And boy, did it pay off! Al poured everything into that scene, filming for a grueling 15 hours as Michael blasted away at Al Lettieri and Sterling Hayden’s characters from point-blank range.
He also shared his costars were like a safety net for him, understanding he was carrying the weight of the world — and the threat of getting canned — on his shoulders, so they really stepped up to keep his spirits high.