It’s been 50 years since Al Pacino starred in The Godfather as Michael Corleone and became a household name and solidified his place in film history forever, back in 2010, Pacino sat down with 60 Minutes and Katie Couric to discuss his new HBO Film, You Don’t Know Jack, and his role playing Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Pacino also discussed his life and career up until that point, and when discussing his film career one can’t not discuss The Godfather. In the interview, Pacino spoke with Couric about meeting Francis Ford Coppola and getting the role of Michael in his classic crime drama based on the 1969 crime novel of the same title by Mario Puzo.

In the interview he discusses how Coppola wanted him to star in another film of his before The Godfather and Pacino talks about Coppola‘s writing being great and reminds Couric that he co-wrote the script for Patton, and so he says he decided to go out to California to meet with Coppola. He describes how Coppola told the studio that he wanted Pacino to play his professor in the role he describes and Pacino speaks of how none of the studio executives knew who Pacino was. The studio criticized everything from him not being known as an actor right down to how short of an actor he was and how they were doubting this idea and Coppola was trying to convince them that Pacino could play the role.

Pacino tells Couric that from this meeting, came a friendship. He spent five days with Coppola in San Francisco and got to know Coppola the person and the director. And that even though the studio seemed to not want either of them on the picture, it was a beautiful story of two people getting to know each other and building the foundation of a relationship that would have a prosperous outcome for them both. Pacino tells Couric that he had officially met Coppola while he was performing on Broadway and Coppola had come to see his show in New York City, and then Pacino explains that a year after they had their week in San Francisco, Coppola calls him in New York City and told Pacino that he was doing The Godfather and was considering Pacino for the film. At first Pacino tells Couric, he thought Coppola was on acid when he called him, that the had to be on something, so Pacino indulged him in the conversation about this new film he was directing.

Pacino says he thought it was smart of Paramount Pictures to hire Coppola, he had his own production company, American Zoetrope, centered in San Francisco and founded by Coppola and filmmaker George Lucas, and filmmaker Steven Spielberg joined later. So Pacino tells Coppola over the phone that if he’s serious this a great opportunity for him, and then Coppola tells him, “Ya, and I want you to play Michael.” Pacino explains to Couric that he had read the book and was familiar with the character of Michael Corleone, and that he didn’t think he was right for the part of Vito Corleone‘s youngest son who would go on to be the ruthless crime leader and Don of the Corleone family. And that while he was thinking this, he didn’t say over the phone that he thought he wasn’t right for the role, and that Coppola should pick someone else to play Michael. Pacino explains that he thought Sonny Corleone was more right a part to play than Michael, and that even though Pacino was hesitant with Coppola, Coppola insisted he wanted Pacino in the role of Michael Corleone.

Pacino explains that from that point went on a long, long process and hundred of thousands of dollars for screen tests and everybody who was being considered for a role screen testing in that role for the studio. And Pacino reiterated that thought his process Coppola was adamant about wanting Pacino and he also was adamant about wanting Marlon Brando. Pacino discusses how the studio initially told Coppola “No” on hiring Brando for the role of Don Vito Corleone, and that they also told Coppola he would never get Pacino or James Caan. And then Pacino ends the interview by saying, “They said there would be no way, and he got all three.”

As we remember the Golden Jubilee of one of the best movies ever made, Movies to History has provided this interview that was re-aired on 60 Minutes on March 16, 2022 in honor of the films 50th anniversary, with Al Pacino and Katie Couric discussing the meet cute of Pacino and Coppola. And while you watch the interview, you can wonder if Coppola had never seen Pacino on Broadway all those years ago, would he be known in film history as Michael Corleone or would someone else, like Robert Redford for example, who Paramount Pictures had told Coppola he should hire for the role. Because there is no way now, we can see anyone but Al Pacino in the role of Michael Corleone, it seems out of place for Redford. Maybe the film would still have been a hit, or maybe it would have flopped and put Paramount Pictures up for sale, and we would have never knew Pacino as Michael Corleone.

You can watch the 60 Minutes Interview below:

The Godfather is available to stream on 4K now and can be purchased at your preferred retail store.