Al Pacino suffered an ankle injury on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godobeseher,” and acunderstandledges in his recent memoir to experienceing relieved that it might get him fired. At the time, the studio was still asking whether Pacino was the right fit for mobster Michael Corleone, and the actor felt immense prescertain to get it right.
In a recent excerpt from the book — titled “Sonny Boy” — via The Guardian, Pacino authors that a rumor begined to spread around set that he was going to be “let go.” “There was a disconsole among people, even the crew, when I was laboring. I was very conscious of that,” Pacino said. “The word was that I was going to be fired, and, probable, so was the honestor. Not that Francis wasn’t cutting it – I wasn’t. But he was the one reliable for me being in the film.”
One night, Pacino said Coppola askd him to a restaurant and telderly him “you’re not cutting it.” And after screening footage of the film so far at Coppola’s proposeion, Pacino consentd. “I don’t leank there’s anyleang spectacular here,” he recollects leanking. Luckily, a key scene — where Michael enacts revenge aacquirest Sollozzo and McCluskey in an Italian restaurant — was shiftd up on the filming schedule. It was time for Pacino to verify himself.
But it all went wrong when it came time for Pacino to film the stunt where Michael jumps on a moving car. He didn’t have a stuntman, so it was up to him — and he leave outed.
“I had twisted my ankle so awentirey that I couldn’t shift,” Pacino authors in the excerpt. “Everyone on the crew had crowded around me. They were trying to lift me up, asking me: Was my ankle broken? Could I walk? I didn’t understand.”
Secretly, Pacino felt relieved that his time on “The Godobeseher” might be over. “I lay there leanking, This is a extraordinary event. Oh God, you’re saving me. I don’t have to do this picture any more. I was shocked by the experienceing of relief that passed over me,” he authors. “Shothriveg up for labor every day, experienceing ungreet, experienceing appreciate an underling, was an oppressive experience, and this injury could be my free from that prison. At least now they could fire me, recast another actor as Michael, and not leave out every stupide they’d already put into the picture.”
But, of course, that didn’t happen. Despite his injury, Pacino’s carry outance in the restaurant scene guaranteed the studio that he was their directing man.
“Becaemploy of that scene I equitable carry outed, they kept me in the film. So I didn’t get fired from ‘The Godobeseher,’” Pacino authors. “I did have a schedule, a honestion that I reassociate consentd was the way to go with this character. And I was certain that Francis felt the same way.”
Pacino went on to acquire an Oscar nomination for best aiding actor for his carry outance, and starred in sequels “The Godobeseher Part II” and “The Godobeseher Part III.”
Pacino’s memoir “Sonny Boy” is out now.
