Diane Keaton Felt Like an Outcast in ‘The Godfather’

Actor Diane Keaton became a part of film history after working alongside the likes of Al Pacino in The Godfather. But while on set, she never felt like she mattered in the feature in comparison to her co-stars.

Diane Keaton didn’t feel like she belonged in ‘The Godfather’

One of Keaton’s career breakthroughs was the 1972 picture The Godfather. Keaton ended up playing the wife of Al Pacino’s famous mobster Michael Corleone, which led to a brief relationship between the pair. The Francis Ford Coppola feature was based on the Mario Puzo novel of the same name, which already recruited a sizable fanbase. But Keaton admitted in an interview with People that she knew next to nothing about The Godfather’s source material.

“I think the kindest thing that someone’s ever done for me … is that I got cast to be in The Godfather and I didn’t even read it,” she said. “I didn’t know a single thing. I just was going around auditioning. I think that was amazing for me. And then I had to kind of read the book.”

Keaton couldn’t help reflect on how fortunate she was to land one of cinema’s most coveted pictures. But as appreciative as she was of the opportunity, she had some criticism for the movie in hindsight. Keaton felt The Godfather was primarily a very male-driven film with little focus on its female cast. This left her feeling like a distant participant in The Godfather trilogy.

“But you know, those were just Francis'[Ford Coppola] really,” Keaton once told CBS News. “I think of those as Francis’ really. I also think that The Godfather was not really where — I didn’t shine in The Godfather. You know, it wasn’t really about a woman. In fact, the woman was very peripheral. And I remember feeling like an outcast, the outcast.”

How Diane Keaton helped Al Pacino get cast in ‘The Godfather’

Pacino is highly regarded as one of The Godfather’s standouts. But initially, he wasn’t wanted for the role. Keaton confided that she actually won her part before Pacino won his.

“Nobody wanted Al Pacino,” Keaton told Entertainment Tonight not too long ago. “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?”

It wasn’t until Pacino auditioned a second time with Keaton that it seemed the film’s studio warmed up to him.

“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,” she said. “Do you believe that? After he had auditioned before and they didn’t want him.”

Keaton couldn’t get over how strange the situation was, and shuttered to think about a Godfather without Pacino.

“What would The Godfather have been without Al Pacino? It’s just one of those weird, unusual things in life,” she said.

In an interview with USA Today, Pacino explained that Coppola always wanted him to star as Michael Corleone. Even when Pacino didn’t mind being looked over for the part, the director refused to let him go.

“I finally was saying to him, ‘Francis, it’s fine. I’ll survive, I’ll do other stuff.’ He really wanted me,” Pacino said.

Francis Ford Coppola once revealed why he cast Diane Keaton in ‘The Godfather’

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Keaton had the opportunity to ask Coppola several questions about the filmmaker’s career. One of those questions was why he cast Keaton, who was till a relative newcomer at the time, in the Oscar-winning films. Coppola was more than happy to reveal what he saw in her.

“I chose you because although you were supposed to play the more straight/vanilla wife, there was something about you deeper, funnier, and very interesting, [I was right],” Coppola told Keaton.