Robert de Niro gave special recognition to the great director Francis Ford Coppola, but also thanked him for not choosing him for the first part of the movie “The Godfather”.
Although Robert De Niro won his first Oscar two years later for the role of young Vito Corleone in The Godfather 2 , his audition for the first part was unsuccessful.
A young De Niro then competed for the role of Sonny Corleone, which eventually went to James Caan. However, everything could have been completely different.
As the audition tape shows, De Niro made a strong impression on Coppola, but not strong enough to land him a role in what many consider the greatest film of all time.
At a ceremony held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, De Niro recalled that moment as Coppola accepted the American Film Institute (AFI) Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Francis, thank you for not casting me in the first part of The Godfather ,” De Niro said at the event on Saturday.
It was the best job I ever got. And it meant I was free for The Godfather 2. Francis, you changed my career, you changed my life. We’re all here tonight because of you. We love you,” said the legendary actor.
Two-time Oscar winner, De Niro was joined on stage by the main actor of the trilogy, Al Pacino, who played Michael Corleone in all three films.
Quoting Coppola, Pacino began his address by saying, “The things that get you fired when you’re young are the same things that get you a lifetime achievement award years later.”
The audience laughed, and Pacino continued: “You know, none of us got fired from The Godfather , but some of us were very close. I was the closest. Francis always fought for us. He fought for his film and his vision, which he always does. And that could have cost him his career.”
“Every hour on set there was the potential threat of being fired. We all could have been replaced, but we weren’t. And now, years later, we’re all here to give him credit for that. Thank you, Francis. Thank you for believing in me more than I believed in myself. I’m eternally grateful to be part of your Godfather family , ” he added.
The film The Godfather , released in 1972, was a huge success and for a time became the highest-grossing film in history. The trilogy won three Oscars (out of a total of 11 nominations), including for Best Picture and Best Actor (Marlon Brando, who refused the award in protest at the way Native Americans were portrayed in Hollywood).
Coppola recently completed the long-awaited project Megalopolis , which, despite high expectations, failed. However, the director took the situation with a touch of humor and he still enjoys the respect of the film industry for his consistency of artistic vision.