Robert De Niro might have missed out on The Godfather, but as it turns out, that was the best twist of fate he could have asked for. During the AFI Life Achievement Award gala honoring Francis Ford Coppola at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, De Niro and Al Pacino shared some heartfelt — and hilarious — memories from their days working with the legendary filmmaker.
“Francis, thank you for not casting me in The Godfather,” De Niro said to a room full of laughter and applause.
“It was the best job I ever, never got. And it meant I was available for The Godfather Part II. Francis, you changed my career, you changed my life. We’re all here tonight because of you. We love you.”
After Pacino’s unforgettable turn as Michael Corleone in the 1972 adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel, the sequel took things even deeper, following the parallel stories of father and son — with De Niro stepping into the shoes of a young Vito Corleone, a role originally made iconic by Marlon Brando.
Pacino kicked off his own tribute by borrowing some wisdom straight from Coppola himself.
“‘The things you do when you’re young that you get fired for, are the same things that years later, they give you lifetime achievement awards for.’”
With a chuckle, he added, “You know, none of us were fired from The Godfather, but some of us got pretty close. I got the closest.
And Francis just fought for us all the time.”
He added, “He fought for his film and his vision, which he always does. Yet, it could have gotten him fired. Everything was a firing threat. It could have had all of us fired, but it didn’t.
Now, years later, here we all are to celebrate him for it. So, thank you Francis. Thank you for believing in me even more than I believed in myself. I am eternally grateful in kind to be part of your Godfather family.”
Coppola’s influence on cinema can hardly be overstated.
With masterpieces like The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and Apocalypse Now locked into AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies list, and six Academy Awards under his belt, his storytelling legacy stretches far beyond the Corleone saga.
His fingerprints are also all over other iconic films like Patton, American Graffiti, The Conversation, The Outsiders, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula — and that’s just scratching the surface.
