Diane Keaton’s Quiet Power Play That Put Al Pacino In The Godfather
The studio balked at Al Pacino for The Godfather—until an electric screen test with Diane Keaton forced a U-turn and cemented him as Michael Corleone.
Here is a wild bit of Godfather lore that hits different this week. As we remember Diane Keaton, who passed away last week at 79, it turns out we may have her to thank for Al Pacino being Michael Corleone at all.
The casting carousel before Pacino
Back when Paramount was trying to figure out who should play Michael, just about every major name was sniffing around the part. The short list included:
- Warren Beatty
- James Caan
- Robert Redford
- Dustin Hoffman
- Martin Sheen
Hard to imagine any of them in that role now, but that was the water the studio was swimming in.
Paramount did not want Pacino... until Keaton
Pacino was not the studio favorite. Paramount pushed back on him, at least partly because of his height. Meanwhile, Diane Keaton was already locked in as Kay. Then came a screen test that flipped the room. They put Pacino in front of the camera with Keaton, the producers watched, and suddenly the whole conversation changed. He got the job.
"Nobody wanted Al Pacino. They didn’t want him to play that part, and I had already been cast. I had been cast before Al Pacino in Godfather 1! Is this not weird? So I was standing there and they brought him up when I was standing there and we worked together in front of [the producers], and they gave him the job. Do you believe that? After he had auditioned before and they didn’t want him. What would The Godfather have been without Al Pacino? It’s just one of those weird, unusual things in life."
Their on-screen dynamic never got its due
People rightly rave about Pacino’s transformation as Michael, and he was nominated for Oscars for both films, in two different categories. But the electricity between him and Keaton is a huge part of why those movies play as deeply as they do, and she never got any awards love for Kay. No Academy nod, no Golden Globes nod, not a single guild nomination. Keaton earned four Oscar nominations across her career, but I still think missing out on The Godfather Part II is one of the all-time snubs.
Curious where you land: outside the four Oscar nominations she actually received, which Diane Keaton performance most deserved a nod? Drop your pick in the comments.