'Pint of Whiskey' and 'Fat Needle' Full of Industrial-Grade Painkiller: How Al Pacino Battled Anxiety and Crippling Injury on Set of 'The Godfather'
Al Pacino opens up about the extreme measures he took to bag his iconic role in The Godfather.
Oct. 16 2024, Published 7:17 p.m. ET
Al Pacino unleashed scandalous revelations in his new memoir, admitting the success of his 1972 mafia classic began with a bottle of whiskey and was tainted by a debilitating on-set injury.
The Oscar winner detailed his time filming The Godfather while writing Sonny Boy, confessing he twisted his ankle so badly it nearly cost him the legendary role, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Pacino twisted his ankle so bad on-set while filming The Godfather that he was jabbed with needles to numb the pain.
Pacino, who played mobster Michael Corleone in the Francis Ford Coppola film, said he was jabbed with a "fat needle" to numb the pain after his ankle "slipped" while filming a getaway scene.
The injury came as the actor felt immense pressure to bring the gangster to life properly.
The Oscar winner's new memoir reveals he downed a pint of whiskey before his screentest for The Godfather.
The actor recounted on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast: "(When it happened) people just swallowed, got around me and they said, 'He's hurt,' and then they put one of these big fat needles in my ankle so I could finish the day, and they kept me."
Pacino did, however, feel relief after the setback — believing the injury would "get him out of the film," which he was hesitant to audition for in the first place.
His iconic portrayal ultimately landed him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1972.
The Hollywood veteran revealed he was drunk during his screentest for The Godfather — a bold move after noting how the studio behind the film didn't want him for the role in the first place.
He said: "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."
Pacino said in the original book, author Mario Puzo had the character of Michael calling himself the "Sissy of the Corleone family." Micheal was also "supposed to be small, dark-haired, handsome in a delicate way, no visible threat to anybody."
He then added: "That didn’t sound like the guys that the studio wanted. But that didn’t mean it had to be me."
Pacino said he was told he had to fly out to California to screentest for the part, which he "just didn't want to do."
Pacino said he never thought he was right to play Michael in The Godfather and that Paramount wanted other actors for the role.
He said: "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.'"
Pacino then disclosed the secret behind his success — downing a bottle of hard liquor beforehand.
He said Bregman brought him a pint of whiskey so he could drink it on the flight, which was the driving force behind getting him to the west coast.
The actor struggled with alcoholism during peak moments in his career, which he said was 'terrible' at times.
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Pacino's role in the mob drama paved the way for his booming career, which has now spanned more than 50 years.
The iconic actor did, however, struggle with alcohol abuse during the height of his fame, RadarOnline.com recently revealed.
He even suffered horrifying "blackouts" and would often skip awards shows and press events, impacting his reputation in Hollywood.
Pacino said after he stopped drinking, things got "a little worse for a while" before getting better.
He said: "It really was terrible. But then, eventually, thank God, it got there."
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