Diane Keaton Admits She Never Read 'The Godfather' Before Auditioning: 'I Needed to Get Work'

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty

Diane Keatonis reminiscing about the offer she couldn’t refuse.

TheMack & Ritastar, 76, admitted to PEOPLE that she auditioned forThe Godfatherwithout “having ever read” the book on which the movie was based as she reflected on her career during her Hand & Footprint Ceremony Thursday at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

“I think the kindest thing that someone’s ever done for me … is that I got cast to be inThe Godfatherand I didn’t even read it. I didn’t know a single thing,” the Academy Award winner recalled. “I just was going around auditioning. I think that was amazing for me. And then I had to kind of read the book.”

Emilio Lari/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

She played Kay Adams-Corleone, the wife ofAl Pacino’s Michael Corleone inFrancis Ford Coppola’s 1972 film adaptation ofMario Puzo’s novel, later reprising the role in the 1974 and 1990 sequels.

“I think about how lucky I am. That’s what I think. And the way I think about things, like I auditioned forThe Godfather, not having ever readThe Godfatheror caring aboutThe Godfatheror anything, because all I was doing was auditioning. I needed to get work,” she explained. “So I was there and so he had me come back and then he cast me and then Al Pacino.”

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Keaton also raved about working opposite Pacino, 82, noting that “the studio didn’t want Al Pacino at all” and only cast him after the pair had a chemistry reading together.

“So he brought Al Pacino in and we did it together and for some reason that helped them cast him. Can you imagine if [they] hadn’t cast him? So a lot of these experiences that you have come and you’re just surprised, like today, this was a surprise. This is [a] complete, utter surprise to me,” Keaton added.

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“It was just one of those things in your life where you just don’t expect it and then suddenly it comes your way. And then it’s like, wow,” Keaton said of the ceremony. “I was thrilled, of course. And I still am. And to be here today is also great because I’m not frequently inside this theater and I love this theater.”

Keaton’s latest movieMack & Ritais currently in theaters.

source: people.com