Tropicana Nov-Dec 2017 #116 Celebrating the Classics

GAME CHANGER
I was going for the ending of
the movie which makes him
much more enigmatic. Early
on, he’s someone you don’t pay
attention to much, so when
the transition comes...
but I did it. I did it thinking about this role, just trying
to figure out where I could go with it. I had some idea,
but of course, I was unable to articulate it to Francis at
the time.
HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU TEST FOR THE ROLE?
Countless. I can’t count it. It seemed like I was always
testing. I kept testing even after I got the part.
WAS THERE EVER A TIME WHEN YOU SAID “I’M
DONE, IT´S TOO MUCH”?
I said to him, “Please, Francis. It’s ok, we’ll work again.
There’s other things to do.” He said, “No! I want you.” I
thought, “This can’t be happening. I’m dreaming. This
is too much.” I said, “Ok, fine. I’ll do whatever.” Then,
we finally got accepted in some way. It’s just a thing
with me. I’ll say it because it’s true: You don’t want to
be somewhere where you’re not wanted. I even said
I’m not interested in that at all.
ISN´T IT TRUE THAT YOU ALSO ACCEPTED
ANOTHER PART OF MARIO IN ‘THE GANG THAT
COULDN’T SHOOT STRAIGHT’ BEFORE YOU HAD
THE ROLE OF MICHAEL IN ‘THE GODFATHER’?
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT?
They wound up suing me. By the time I had finished
‘The Godfather’, I had no money, but I owed
USD15,000 to lawyers. I remember that.
ONE MORE RUMOUR TO CONFIRM: IS IT TRUE
THAT THE DAY YOU FILMED THE WEDDING
SCENE, YOU TOLD DIANE KEATON THAT THE
MOVIE WAS NOT GOING TO DO WELL?
Absolutely. It’s a great script, actually, but the whole
involvement of filming something at the time; we
were so young and inexperienced. We didn’t know
what filmmaking was, especially when you’re doing scenes
and people are snickering on the other end saying, “Well,
this isn’t going well.” When is the ball going to fall? I
remember I was getting dizzy over the whole thing. Diane
and I in that wedding thing... we got so loaded! A lot of
chaos going on, but we were theatre actors. We were not
used to film. The whole thing had a sort of surreal feeling.
We started drinking. We were just talking about where we
go from here. It’s over. This is the worst film we ever made.
We knew nothing about it.
AND THE DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA NEVER
REALISED THAT YOU WERE DRUNK THAT FIRST DAY?
I remember Francis actually called me when he was sitting
there with his family. He told me, straight out that I have to
start getting my chops together. “I’ve got great confidence
in you, but in a way I don’t know what you’re doing.” Then
he told me, “I’ve prepared the tapes that you’ve done and
they’re at Paramount.” There I was, looking at it in the
room, by myself, thinking, “Well, it isn’t very good. It seems
ok. It doesn’t even seem ok, but it doesn’t matter, because my
mind was always thinking that Michael was ....” I was going
for the ending of the movie which makes him much more
enigmatic. Early on, he’s someone you don’t pay attention
to much, so when the transition comes, finally when he
becomes the dawn, you’re like, “Wow, where did that come
from?” That was my hope and I tried to orchestrate my
role that way. I sort-of knew I was doing it but I was on the
wrong track. So I went to him and I said, “I see what you
mean,” because I didn’t know what else to say to him. He was
convinced of it. That day we shot the wedding, I come back
in. Nobody talks to me, only Francis.
IS IT A JOKE? PEOPLE WERE IGNORING YOU AT THE
VERY BEGINNING?
Yes. The great guy for me in this picture was (the producer)
Al Ruddy. For some reason, Al would always come up to
me while we were shooting and say, “Hey kid, come here.
Pacino, listen to me. You’re going to be great. You’re going
to be great in this picture. You’re great. You understand?” I’d
say, “Oh yeah? Thanks.” I didn’t know what I was doing, but
it was really encouraging. He was the only one who spoke to
me, because I would do scenes and I would be in the middle
of a scene somewhere and I would hear people giggling. They
were snickering. I was like, “What is that about?” It was
about me.
IS IT TRUE THEN THAT YOU NEVER CROSSED WORDS
WITH ROBERT DE NIRO, AND YOU WERE RIVALS AT
THAT TIME FIGHTING FOR THE SAME PARTS?
We’ve known each other for a long time (with Robert De
Niro). We were up for the same parts, but that’s what it is. It’s
not a rivalry, but that’s what it is. We grew up together in a
way. He said once that if I didn´t do ‘Scarface’ he would do it
and that was a big motivation for me.
DOES IT FEEL LIKE 45 YEARS?
Everything feels long now. Everything feels in the distance
and I question whether I did it or not. That kind-of thing.
TM | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 112