Al Pacino explains why it was "hard to cope" with 'The Godfather' legacy

Far Out Magazine ^ | TUE 14TH MAR 2023 | Tyler Golsen

[nickcarraway]

Few parts in the history of Hollywood have been as good as Michael Corleone. As the initially reluctant replacement for his father in The Godfather trilogy, Corleone’s transformation into a sinister power-hungry mob boss is one of the most intriguing character arcs in film history. Al Pacino himself isn’t ignorant of the effect that the film had on his career, as he explained to The New York Times back in 2022 to celebrate the film’s 50th anniversary.

“I’m here because I did The Godfather,” Pacino explained during his interview. “For an actor, that’s like winning the lottery. When it comes right down to it, I had nothing to do with the film but play the part.”

“It’s hard to explain in today’s world — to explain who I was at that time and the bolt of lightning that it was,” Pacino added. “I felt like, all of a sudden, some veil was lifted, and all eyes were on me. Of course, they were on others in the film. But The Godfather gave me a new identity that was hard for me to cope with.”

Pacino wasn’t a movie star in 1972, he was actually a well-respected theatre actor who had only accrued a small number of film roles by the time he hit 30. Francis Ford Coppola took notice of Pacino for his role in the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park and cast him in The Godfather. The actor knew that the film was destined for something greater after Coppola got emotional during filming.

“You remember the funeral scene for Marlon when they put him down?” Pacino recalled. “It was over for the evening. The sun was going down. So, naturally, I’m happy ’cause I get to go home and have some drinks. I was on the way to my camper, saying, ‘Well, I was pretty good today. I had no lines, no obligations, that was fine.’ Every day without lines is a good day.”

“So I’m going back to my camper. And there, sitting on a tombstone, is Francis Ford Coppola, weeping like a baby,” he continued. “Profusely crying. And I went up to him, and I said, ‘Francis, what’s wrong? What happened?’ He says, ‘They won’t give me another shot.’ Meaning they wouldn’t allow him to film another setup. And I thought: ‘OK. I guess I’m in a good film here.’ Because he had this kind of passion, and there it is.”

Pacino was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the original film, along with co-stars Marlon Brando, James Caan, and Robert Duvall. After not attending the ceremony, a rumour began to spread that Pacino had purposefully boycotted the Oscars after being upset that he was nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ instead of gaining a lead actor nomination. However, the actor shot down that piece of lore when asked if he didn’t attend for that reason.

“No, absolutely not,” Pacino insisted. “I was at that stage in my life where I was somewhat, more or less, rebellious. I did go back for others. But I didn’t go to them early on. It was the tradition. I don’t think Bob [De Niro] went to one of them. George C. Scott didn’t even go. They had to wake him up. [Laughs] Marlon didn’t go. Look, Marlon gave back the Oscar. How about that? They were rebelling from the Hollywood thing. That kind of thing was in the air.”

“I was somewhat uncomfortable with being in that situation, being in that world. I was also working onstage in Boston at that time [in Richard III]. But that was an excuse. I just was afraid to go,” Pacino claimed. “I was young, younger than even my years. I was young in terms of the newness of all this. It was the old shot-out-of-a-cannon syndrome. And it’s connected to drugs and those kinds of things, which I was engaged in back there, and I think that had a lot to do with it. I was just unaware of things back then.”

[Tired of Taxes]

All the actors in Glengarry Glen Ross were perfect in their roles. Back in the 90’s, I worked in a sales department. Our sales manager had a sense of humor. While we called lead after lead, he would walk around telling us, “Always be closing.” One day, he told me to watch that movie. What a classic.

[dfwgator]

My favorite thing is to tell somebody, “I’m going to Lempkin!”

Some do get the reference.

[Albion Wilde]

It was the haircut in Godfather Part III that ruined him.

Yes! Yuck! Also the horrible perm and sleazy polyester wardrobe on Diane Keaton as Kay Corleone--their stylings were totally out of whack for both of their characters.

Nevertheless, I'm one of the few people on earth, apparently, who loved Part III just as much as Parts I & II. I've been to Sicily and inside the Vatican, and those scenes had great meaning for me. Loved Andy Garcia as Michael's nephew, and also loved Sophia Coppola in her role as Michael's daughter. And I'm a fan of the Irish actor Donal Donnelly, who played Archbishop Gilday. (He was also brilliant in John Huston's haunting film of the James Joyce novel, The Dead, starring his daughter Angelica Huston.)

The plot of Godfather Part III foreshadowed the messy goings-on that would later occur with the Vatican Bank. Puzo must have been clairvoyant.

[dfwgator]

GFIII wasn’t bad, as much as it just simply didn’t live up to the predecessors. As a standalone movie, it’s fine.

[Tired of Taxes]

I had to look it up. (lol) My old sales manager would’ve picked up on it right away.

[dfwgator]

This is hillarious....

Glen and Gary and Glenn and Ross (Lots of Language)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QipAqdomO3I

[P.O.E.]

Saw him do “Richard III” on Broadway in the late 70s. I think he tried to keep the character’s persona ahead of his own, but his fame at the time made it difficult

[Tired of Taxes]

LOL. Very clever.

[Jamestown1630]

I suppose you would do better at those roles...

[Jamestown1630]

I didn’t really like “Glengarry, Glen Ross”, maybe because I don’t know much about the sales culture.

But I thought all of the actors were great.

I’ll have to look for ‘Devil’s Advocate’.

[jerod]

Charlie Chaplin got to take Scarlet O'Hara home every night... As beautiful as she obviously was, Vivien Leigh was apparently just as batsh*te crazy as her character Blanche in 'A Street Car Named Desire'.

[Albion Wilde]

GFIII wasn’t bad, as much as it just simply didn’t live up to the predecessors. As a standalone movie, it’s fine.

Hmm, it's hard to imagine how a person would fully appreciate Part III who had never seen Parts I or II. Michael's sin and guilt and search for repentance just wouldn't have the impact it you had not seen his crimes graphically displayed in the prior ones.

I actually agree with many of the criticisms of the movie's discontinuity—not only Michael's appearance is disjointed (as is Kay's); but Michael also seems to have had a personality transplant. But unlike many critics, I really “got” Sophia Coppola as a New York born-and-raised Italian-American princess. Her looks seemed to have been incomprehensible to audiences expecting the typical Hollywood starlet look, but are quite representative of authetic Greek-Sicilian bloodlines. I found it touching that her cousin and lover played by Andy Garcia took her back to New York City's Little Italy neighborhood to show her her “roots.”

Eli Wallach as Don Altobello was an amazing performance, including his command of Sicilian dialect (he is Jewish). And the scenes of Kay and Michael's son in I Vespri Siciliani was a great treat for opera lovers.

Sophia Coppola is actually a wonderful director herself—I particularly enjoyed two of her films, Marie Antoinette with Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman, and Lost in Translation with Bill Murray (in a serious role) and Scarlett Johansson. Sophia is currently directing a bio pic about Priscilla Presley.

[SimpleJack]

[Hammerhead]

What does that even mean? I’m not an actor. Your rebuttal makes absolutely no sense.

[Tired of Taxes]

"But unlike many critics, I really “got” Sophia Coppola as a New York born-and-raised Italian-American princess. Her looks seemed to have been incomprehensible to audiences expecting the typical Hollywood starlet look, but are quite representative of authetic Greek-Sicilian bloodlines."

I've watched GF1 & GF2. Never GF3. But, I read criticism of the casting of Sofia in her role. So, I watched a few scenes from the movie, and I agree with your take on it: She does look more authentic for that part. Some articles say Wynona Ryder bowed out, so Sofia stepped into the role. Hard to imagine Wynona Ryder in a Godfather movie.

[Albion Wilde]

I read criticism of the casting of Sofia in her role. So, I watched a few scenes from the movie, and I agree with your take on it: She does look more authentic for that part. Some articles say Wynona Ryder bowed out... Hard to imagine Wynona Ryder in a Godfather movie.

I have a thing about ethnicity in casting, having grown up in a multicultural area where we learned in childhood what the various ethnicities "look like" on average, and the nuances in their speech. It takes a consummate actor like Eli Wallach to pulll off another ethnicity; but sometimes the "look" or "sound" just can't be overcome. So yes, Wynona Ryder would have been awkward in that role. The tv comedy Friends, as another instance, had a Jewish father (Elliot Gould, born in Brooklyn), his Jewish son Ross (David Schwimmer, born in Queens NY), and his daughter Monica (Courtney Cox, English, born in Alabama). Surely there were plenty of Jewish actresses from New York who could have taken that role.

Then there were the two backwoods Southern rednecks who accompanied George Clooney in O Brother Where Art Thou, played by John Turturro (Italian) and Tim Blake Nelson (Jewish). I love both actors; they did a great job with their lines and accents, and the movie is among my all-time favorites, but Turturro's "look" was constantly jarring.

That said, Andy Garcia is Hispanic, but "passed" very well in his role in Godfather III.

I guess I'm a closet casting director. I've always wanted to see Robert Redford and Brad Pitt cast as father and son. Here they are at similar ages:

[Clemenza]

Features a young Al Bundy as one of the detectives! Thought the scene with the Jim Brown lookalike in underwear slapping a suspect during a police interrogation was a little over the top in what was a very over the top film.

[Clemenza]

Lawrence Olivier (English) was the original choice to play Vito Corleone (which went to Dutch and Huguenot descendant Marlon Brando instead because he was cheaper). Olivier would have actually played the Don very well but it just would have been a different performance. One of the best portrayals I’ve seen of a non-Italian playing an Italian immigrant was the Welsh actor Ian Holm in “Big Night.”

I know that Paramount wanted Robert Redford to play Michael (ha!) and that Coppola wanted John Cassavetes for the role (too old).

[Albion Wilde]

Olivier would have actually played the Don very well but it just would have been a different performance. One of the best portrayals I’ve seen of a non-Italian playing an Italian immigrant was the Welsh actor Ian Holm in “Big Night.”

Fascinating!

Brando was helped not only by his stellar acting, but also by the film's makeup artists:

Yes, loved Big Night, also on my short list of favorite movies. A Welshman, a Lebanese (Tony Shalhoub) and a Puerto Rican (Mark Anthony) helped round out the Italian cast with the inimitable Tucci and the lovely Isabella Rossellini.

[1Old Pro]

The HULU special on the making of the Godfather was very enlightening.