Al Pacino told ABC News that he was almost fired from his role in the 1972 movie “The Godfather.”
“They wanted to fire me when I was on the picture ... [during] the shooting, first couple of weeks,”
Pacino told ABC News’ “Nightline.” “Because they kept seeing the rushes, you know, or the footage that was shot, and they kept looking at it and thinking, ‘What is he doing?’”
Director Francis Ford Coppola helped the actor keep his role as mob boss Michael Corleone in the trilogy.
“I was so confused at that time, and Francis was so supportive, you know, and so helping me in it, all of it,” Pacino said. “If it wasn't for Francis, I would’ve just not showed up one day and said, ‘Hey, look man, I don't want to be where I'm not wanted.’”
The actor described portraying the character with "a form of innocence or detachment in a crazy way." He said the movie’s restaurant scene kept him involved.
"Without the great Sterling Hayden and ... little Al Lettieri, I wouldn't be here today. They'd have let me go for — even Frances couldn't stop them," Pacino told ABC News.
Pacino has the title role playing an aging rock star in the recently released movie “Danny Collins.”
The actor compared the role to his experience with “The Godfather,” saying screenwriter Dan Fogleman
crafted the role with him in mind, Comic Book Resources reported.
“Dan wanted me to be in the picture,” Pacino said, according to the website. “He saw me in the part, and that’s always kind of — to me, it’s always surprising. But it’s good to know a director wants you. I started that way with ‘The Godfather.’ Francis [Ford Coppola] wanted me. That was it — I was unknown at the time, and even against everyone’s outrage that he would want someone like me in that part … but he just stuck with it.”
In “Danny Collins,” Pacino’s character reinvents himself after his manager delivers a long-lost letter from former Beatle John Lennon. The story is based on a real letter Lennon sent to British musician Steve Tilston.
Rolling Stone called Pacino “irresistible” in the role.
“Whether strutting onstage or wrestling with his drug-fueled demons, he doesn't skimp on Danny's human limits,” Rolling Stone said.