Although Robert De Niro was passed over for The Godfather, his starring role in the sequel turned out to be the offer he couldn’t refuse.
While paying tribute to director Francis Ford Coppola with the AFI Life Achievement Award, he and co-star Al Pacino reminisced about their time with the filmmaker on his seminal mafia film franchise.
“Francis, thank you for not casting me in The Godfather,” said De Niro during Saturday’s gala at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. “It was the best job I ever, never got. And it meant I was available for The Godfather Part II. Francis, you changed my career, you changed my life. We’re all here tonight because of you. We love you.”
Following Pacino’s breakout performance as Michael Corleone in 1972’s adaptation of Mario Puzo’s book, the 1974 sequel followed the parallel paths of father and son with De Niro as a young immigrant Vito Corleone (portrayed in the first film by Marlon Brando). The performance won the actor his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Pacino prefaced his tribute with a quote from Coppola himself. “‘The things you do when you’re young that you get fired for, are the same things that years later, they give you lifetime achievement awards for,’” he said.
“You know, none of us were fired from The Godfather, but some of us got pretty close,” added Pacino as the audience laughed at his self-deprecating nod. “I got the closest. And Francis just fought for us all the time. He fought for his film and his vision, which he always does. Yet, it could have gotten him fired. Everything was a firing threat. It could have had all of us fired, but it didn’t. Now, years later, here we all are to celebrate him for it. So, thank you Francis. Thank for believing in me even more than I believed in myself. I am eternally grateful in kind to be part of your Godfather family.”
Filmmaking peers like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Spike Lee and more were also on hand to celebrate Coppola, as well as collaborators like Adam Driver, Elle Fanning and Diane Lane.
The Life Achievement Award is AFI‘s highest esteem for a career in film. Coppola’s predecessors include Nicole Kidman, Julie Andrews, Denzel Washington, George Clooney, Diane Keaton and John Williams.
Coppola’s The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and Apocalypse Now are ranked among history’s greatest films in AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies list. A six-time Academy Award winner, his other iconic feature credits, as writer, director and/or producer, include Patton, American Graffiti, The Conversation, The Outsiders and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, to name just a few.
The evening earned a record $2.5 million for AFI and will be broadcast on TNT on June 18 at 10pm ET/PT with an encore on TCM July 31 at 8pm ET/PT.
