Sonny Boy: A Memoir

Pacino explains how he came to enter the “new world’ of working in Hollywood. By his mid-20s he was a respected theater actor who had now won an Obie and a Tony award, but he was still unknown in Hollywood. Pacino had played a few roles in small films, such as The Panic at Needle Park, in which he played a man with heroin dependency, and had an agent who wanted him to be in films, but he still saw himself as a theater actor. 

He was therefore shocked when newcomer director Francis Ford Coppola wanted to cast him as Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Pacino found the screen test process difficult and stressful, but felt that the opportunity was too incredible to pass up. Coppola fought with Paramount Studio and persuaded them that Pacino could do the role. Pacino wondered how to bring Michael Corleone to life, and tried to make him as enigmatic as possible. When the studio and Coppola were unhappy with the cuts of his first scene, Pacino knew he could be fired. Luckily, his restaurant scene was deemed a success and he kept the role.

While working on The Godfather, Pacino had the opportunity to lunch with Marlon Brando, which was a surreal experience for him, since Brando was one of the most admired actors of Pacino’s childhood.