Al Pacino: I was going to be fired from The Godfather

International star Al Pacino revealed some of the behind-the-scenes details of his selection for his iconic role in the famous movie "The Godfather", more than 52 years after its production.

Al Pacino admitted that he was almost fired from The Godfather, especially in light of the dissatisfaction of the production company "Paramount" with his choice of the role and their desire for another actor.

Al Pacino has revealed his early struggles on the set of The Godfather, and how he was almost fired from the production amid doubts about his performance.

While he continued to receive rave reviews and earned an Academy Award nomination for his role in the film, Pacino recalled negative reactions to his performance after filming the first few scenes.

Reasons for trying to exclude Al Pacino In an excerpt from his new memoir Sonny Boy published in The Guardian, Pacino said he didn't like the scene he had to audition for, but still won the role, with director Francis Ford Coppola choosing him over everyone else.

"Paramount didn't want me to play Michael Corleone," he wrote. "They wanted someone else: Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Ryan O'Neal."

After filming began, Al Pacino wrote: "My co-star Diane Keaton and I spent those first few days laughing with each other, as we had to do the opening wedding scene from the screen test that we hated so much.

"Based on that scene alone, we were sure we were going to be in the worst movie ever made, and when we finished shooting that day, we were going to go back to Manhattan. Our careers were over, we thought," he continued.

When Paramount studio executives began viewing the footage, they were "wondering if I was the right actor for the role," according to Pacino's memoir.

The global star said: The rumour spread throughout the group that I was going to be fired from the film. There was a disturbance among the crew while I was working and I was fully aware of that.

So, one scene was brought into the shooting schedule to show what Pacino could do, and that was the restaurant scene where Michael takes revenge on two of his enemies.

Fortunately for the actor, the scene showed exactly why Coppola chose him. "The director, Francis Ford Coppola, showed the restaurant scene to the studio, and because of that scene I did, they kept me in the movie. So I wasn't fired from The Godfather," Pacino wrote.