Too Much Abuse
Al Pacino was in the dark during all this deliberation. Godfather was a very successful novel, and despite Pacino getting offers for other movies, he held his breath for the part for months.
Clemenza (Richard Castellano) kisses the hand of the new “Godfather”, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), in the last scene of The Godfather. Source: Gettyimages
Going to interview after interview, table read after table read, and still not getting the part. At one point when Coppola called Pacino for yet another table read, his wife answered and said, “ this has to stop. It’s too much abuse! Is he getting the part or not? ”