Finally, his luck started to turn, when he got a break and was accepted into New York’s prestigious Actors’ Studio when he was 26 years old. He studied with some of the best teachers in the business, most notably Lee Strasberg, who was a key developer of the famously American form of acting: The Method. During this period, Al struggled namely because an actor of similar age, similar height, similar circumstances and similar appearance named Dustin Hoffman had a career that took off in 1967’s The Graduate. Al Pacino could not deny his jealousy, and people constantly coming up to him, seizing his shirt and demanding, “Are you Dustin Hoffman?”, “You’re Dustin Hoffman, aren’t you?” and “Look, it’s Dustin! Dustin Hoffman!” only made it worse. He later reflected with a smile, “Maybe someone’s pulling his shirt now and saying, ‘You’re Al Pacino!’ ”
His confidence restored after his valued training at the Studio, Al continued to audition for plays. When he was finally accepted to be part of the production “The Indian Wants the Bronx,” something wholly unexpected happened: he won an Obie Award for his performance. Soon after that he won a Tony Award for his performance in “Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?” and was beginning to get offers from film studios. Many people began to take notice of the man’s talent, including an young director named Francis Ford Coppola.
The Godfather was a bestselling novel written by Mario Puzo in the 1960s. It tells the story of an Italian family, the Corleones, and their tragic legacy as one of the great Mafia Families in fictional history. When director/screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola wanted to bring the epic novel to the screen, he collaborated with Puzo and wrote a screenplay. Marlon Brando was cast as the head of the family, Don Vito Corleone. James Caan was set to play the Don’s oldest son, Santino “Sonny” Corleone, John Cazale (who would go on to make several movies with Al) was to play the second-eldest brother, Fredo. Robert Duvall took on the role of The Don’s stepson and the Family consiglieri, Tom Hagen, and Coppola’s own sister, Talia Shire, was cast as the youngest Corleone child, Connie. All that was missing was an actor to play the story’s central and most haunting character: Michael Corleone
Coppola had seen Al Pacino perform on stage and immediately became enamored with the young man’s talent. In the director’s head, Al Pacino was the man for Michael. Studio executives and producers, however, begged to differ. They wanted someone with huge star status to play the role; this was, after all, a big-budget production from Paramount Studios. Some of their ideal choices included James Caan (who, as previously mentioned, was later cast as Sonny, Michael’s brother), Martin Sheen, and even Robert Redford. But Coppola refused to budge. He contacted Al and had him come in and do a screen test with Diane Keaton, who was to play Michael’s future wife, Kay Adams. Luckily for Al, he and Diane were already close friends, so the chemistry was automatically perfect on-camera. Al Pacino did his best, and then hoped for it, too.
Al Pacino 