Al Pacino felt "relief" after severely twisting his ankle while filming "The Godfather."
At the time, studio executives did not think Pacino was the right fit for the role of Michael Corleone. Pacino, who was 31 years old at the time, knew the "axe could fall" on him at any point.
For one scene, Pacino had to run and jump onto a moving car.
"I had no stand-in. I had no stuntman. I had to do it myself," Pacino wrote in his memoir "Sonny Boy," via The Guardian. "I jumped, and I missed the car. Now I was lying in a gutter on White Plains Road in the Bronx, flat on my back and looking up at the sky. I had twisted my ankle so badly that I couldn’t move.
"Everyone on the crew had crowded around me. They were trying to lift me up, asking me: Was my ankle broken? Could I walk? I didn’t know. I lay there thinking, This is a miracle. Oh God, you’re saving me. I don’t have to do this picture any more," he continued.
"I was shocked by the feeling of relief that passed over me," Pacino explained. "Showing up for work every day, feeling unwanted, feeling like an underling, was an oppressive experience, and this injury could be my release from that prison. At least now they could fire me, recast another actor as Michael, and not lose every dime they’d already put into the picture. But that’s not what happened."
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Pacino gained fame for his role in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather." He caught the eye of the Academy award-winning director after starring in "The Panic in Needle Park."
Many A-list stars wanted the role of Michael Corleone, including Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson and Ryan O'Neal.
However, Coppola had his eye on Pacino.
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"Francis wanted me. He wanted me and I knew that," Pacino wrote in his memoir, according to the outlet. "And there’s nothing like when a director wants you.
"He also gave me a gift in the form of Diane Keaton. He had a few actors he was auditioning for the role of Kay, but the fact that he wanted to pair me up with Diane suggested she had an edge in the process. I knew she was doing well in her career and had been appearing on Broadway in shows like ‘Hair’ and ‘Play It Again, Sam’ with Woody Allen."
Diane Keaton and Pacino landed their respective roles and "hit it off" as friends.
"She was easy to talk to and funny, and she thought I was funny too," he wrote. "I felt like I had a friend and an ally right away."