The Hollywood veteran, 84, was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of soldier turned mafia don Michael in director Francis Ford Coppola's 1972's operatic Cosa Nostra epic, but he has now revealed he felt such pressure in the job he was desperate for a way out of the role.
He told CBS News he twisted his ankle so badly he thought it had shattered while filming the famous scene where he flees Louis' restaurant after gunning down a rival mobster and corrupt cop Captain McCluskey.
Al Pacino says he felt a lot of pressure playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather. (AP PHOTO)
Al said his first thought as he lay on the ground in agony was: "Thank you, God. I'm gonna get out of this film!"
The actor gave the CBS chat to promote his new memoir Sonny Boy, in which he tells how he felt extreme pressure over taking the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather way before cameras started rolling.
He says in his autobiography about how the studio behind the movie never wanted him for the part: "Paramount didn't want me to play Michael Corleone They wanted Jack Nicholson They wanted Robert Redford. They wanted Warren Beatty or Ryan O'Neal.
"In the book, (Mario) Puzo had Michael calling himself 'the sissy of the Corleone family'.
"He was supposed to be small, dark-haired, handsome in a delicate way, no visible threat to anybody.
"That didn't sound like the guys that the studio wanted. But that didn't mean it had to be me."
Pacino added he ended up getting the role after a drunken flight to screentest for the role that would make his career.
He said: "(I was told) I would have to screentest for the role, which I had never done before, and that I would have to fly out to the west coast to do it, which I just didn't want to do.
"I did not care that it was The Godfather – I was a bit afraid of flying and I didn't want to go to California.
"But my manager, Marty Bregman , said to me, 'You're getting on that f****** plane'
"He brought me a pint of whiskey so I could drink it on the flight, and I got there."
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