Al Pacino suffered an ankle injury on the set of his career-making film The Godfather, and felt relieved that it would get him fired from the movie he was struggling with.
In his new memoir Sonny Boy, Pacino recalls that his performance in the movie wasn’t impressive in the first few scenes shot, and director Francis Ford Coppola sat him down to highlight that.
“There was a discomfort among people, even the crew, when I was working. I was very conscious of that. The word was that I was going to be fired, and, likely, so was the director. Not that Francis wasn’t cutting it – I wasn’t. But he was the one responsible for me being in the film,” he wrote.
He added that Coppola then had dinner with him at a restaurant and showed him clips of his scenes, saying, “you’re not cutting it,” with Pacino himself agreeing with the director.
Following that conversation, a scene where The Devil’s Advocate star had to jump on a moving car had to be shot. When he attempted it, he missed and broke his ankle, and surprisingly felt relieved that now he could get fired.
He recounted: “I had twisted my ankle so badly that I couldn’t move. 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 know.”
He continued: “I lay there thinking, This is a miracle. Oh God, you’re saving me. I don’t have to do this picture any more. I was shocked by the feeling of relief that passed over me. Showing up for work every day, feeling unwanted, feeling like an underling, was an oppressive experience, and this injury could be my release from that prison. At least now they could fire me, recast another actor as Michael, and not lose every dime they’d already put into the picture.”
However, he added that “Because of that scene I just performed, they kept me in the film. So I didn’t get fired from The Godfather. I did have a plan, a direction that I really believed was the way to go with this character. And I was certain that Francis felt the same way.”
Al Pacino reprised his role for The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III. His memoir Sonny Boy is available for purchase now.
