Diane Keaton & Al Pacino Were Convinced They'd Lose Their Careers. Here's Why

Al Pacino's role as Michael Corleone in 1972's "The Godfather" launched his career and gave him the lavish lifestyle he has enjoyed. However, when working on the film, he was prepared for his experience to end much differently. "The rumor had got out around the set that I was going to be let go from the picture," Pacino wrote in his 2024 memoir "Sonny Boy."

He wasn't worried just for himself, but co-star (and eventual real-life partner) Diane Keaton, who played Michael Corleone's girlfriend and eventual wife Kay Adams Corleone, as well. "[We] spent those first days laughing with each other, having to perform that opening wedding exposition scene from the screen test that we hated so much. On the basis of just that one scene, we were certain we were in the worst picture ever made ... Our careers were over, we thought." Keaton has spoken before about how she was surprised she was even cast in the film. When director Francis Ford Coppola held an AMA on his Instagram stories in 2023, Keaton asked him, "Why on Earth did you choose me for 'The Godfather?!!'" (via Entertainment Weekly). The director didn't hold back his praise of Keaton. "I chose you because, although you were to play the more straight/vanilla wife, there was something more about you. Deeper, funnier, and very interesting (I was right)."

Of course, neither Pacino or Keaton was fired from the film. However, that didn't mean the making of "The Godfather" was stress-free.

"Paramount didn't want me to play Michael Corleone," Al Pacino bluntly stated in "Sonny Boy," and even his costars knew it. "The studio didn't want Al Pacino at all," Diane Keaton told People in 2022, but the chemistry between the two helped the studio get on board. "[Director Francis Ford Coppola] brought Al Pacino in and we did it together and for some reason that helped them cast him," Keaton said.

Coppola was certainly on Pacino's side, and Pacino knew it and appreciated it. "There's nothing like when a director wants you," he wrote in "Sonny Boy." That support was needed, as Paramount was "once again questioning whether [Pacino] was the right actor," when they began watching the footage. Pacino and Coppola agreed that his portrayal of the character wasn't working quite yet, so Coppola re-organized the shooting schedule to give Pacino a scene where he could really come into his own as Michael. "[Coppola] did move up the filming of the Italian restaurant scene, where the untested Michael comes to take his revenge on Sollozzo and McCluskey. That scene was not meant to be filmed until a few days later, but if something hadn't happened to let me show what I was capable of, there might not have been a later for me."

Pacino delivered an excellent performance in one of the most pivotal scenes in the film, saving himself and cementing his legacy in the revered classic.