Francis Ford Coppola is one of the most notorious directors from the New Hollywood movement, with a wave of auteurs rising to power in the industry and forever changing the landscape of independent filmmaking. Whether it be the knockout impact of Jack Nicholson in Chinatown, the unexpected success of Jaws or the blood-curdling legacy of The Exorcist, the 1970s gave birth to an entirely new philosophy towards creativity in which the suits in power began to champion the work of emerging directors with ideas that rattled the collective cage.
However, perhaps the most influential from this era was Coppola, embarking on sometimes insane creative ventures that no one else understood, maintaining conviction in his vision and creating some of the most influential cinematic masterpieces of all time.
While he has created staggering works such as Apocalypse Now, The Conversation and Rumble Fish, he is most revered for The Godfather, which inadvertently became the blueprint for filmmaking and indelibly changed the careers of each actor who starred in the eventual trilogy, even though one lead actor initially wanted a completely different role.
The Godfather is widely praised for its seismically talented cast, with lead roles reprised by Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan and Diane Keaton. However, while each of them found success through the bloody story of the Corleone family, Pacino later revealed that there was another character he was pining to play.
Pacino is known for his role as Michael Corleone, the successor to the family who is crucial in the family’s brutal revenge scheme. But while we now cannot separate him from this character and the influence of his performance in the film, Pacino described the character that he most wanted to play when first reading the script.
“The part for me was Sonny,” the actor revealed. “That is the one I wanted to play. But Francis [Ford Coppola, the director] saw me as Michael. The studio didn’t, everybody else didn’t want me in the movie at all. Francis saw me as Michael, and I thought ‘How do I do this?’ I really pondered over it. I lived on 91st and Broadway then and I’d walk all the way to the Village and back ruminating. And I remember thinking the only way I could do this is if, at the end of the day, you don’t really know who he is. Kind of enigmatic.”
Caan famously plays Sonny, and while the range of Pacino’s talent makes it easy to imagine him in just about any role, Pacino later built an entire career from his portrayal of Michael. With later roles in films like Scarface and Dog Day Afternoon, Pacino became known for his uncanny ability to play violent men with untameable tempers, lashing out through aggression and approaching each conflict with a certain level of joie de vivre.
Even though he might have struggled to picture himself in this part, it seems as though this role was crucial in shaping the career of one of the most celebrated performers, and fate seemed to be on his side, whether he was aware of it or not.
