Thread by @parabasis

Alright it’s the first real Monday of the new year and the world is going to shit... who wants to hear the story of how Lee Strasberg got cast in his film debut, The Godfather Part II, while in his early 70s?

Alright so... for background: Lee Strasberg began his career as a stage actor in the Yiddish Theatre and the Theatre Guild before becoming a director. After he quit the Group Theatre, he tried to have a career in Hollywood as a director in the late 30s. It went extremely poorly.

So at this point in his life, Lee has not acted in decades, and it’s been years since his last stage directing effort, The Three Sisters (a story in its own right) but he has trained or helped guide like nearly every New Hollywood actor you could think of, including Al Pacino.

Al Pacino wanted Lee to play Hyman Roth. There were three problems:
(1) Strasberg’s extreme introversion and unwillingness to fight for things
(2) Coppola’s tendency to respond to being pushed by doing the opposite of what you asked
(3) Coppola wanted Elia Kazan for the role

(The ironies: Kazan worked and studied under Lee Strasberg in the Group, and then went on to eclipse him as a theatre director, found the Actors Studio, and eventually hand it over to his old mentor. They had a tempestuous on again off again friendship over many decades.)

Pacino shows up to a party at Strasberg’s w/ a large hat and dark glasses and carrying a copy of the script in a manila envelope. “In my brilliant disguise,” he would later say, “I thought I looked like a messenger.” He asks Lee to read it. Lee says he’s busy but he’ll try.

A month goes by. Pacino is light touching it. He calls Strasberg. Did Lee want to do it? He was equivocal. He liked the script, thought the part needed work, wasn’t sure if he wanted to do it, was only interested in it to further investigate the Method.

Then, Strasberg had to go to LA for a Studio benefit. Pacino just happens to bring Coppola to the benefit. Coppola had never seen Strasberg speak. Pacino suggests Strasberg for the role.

At this point, to be clear... they’re already filming the movie.

So time is of the essence. Pacino conspires with Strasberg’s wife to get both Coppola and Strasberg to the Day of the Locust wrap party (which is also a Christmas party). At this point, like everyone but FFC and LS are in on getting these two together.

Sally Kirkland, FFC’s father, his sister, Al Pacino, Anna Strasberg, DeNiro, everyone is just like, slowly piloting them towards each other. Finally, they meet. Lee overcomes his shyness. They talk. Then the offer comes.

According to Lee, it was for $10K.

He turned it down.

He tells them he doesn’t actually care about the money, and he only really wants the role so he can further investigate how the Method might work on film, but such a low offer is insulting. They come back with $60K, and he says yes.

Two days later he was in Santo Domingo.

Strasberg did, indeed, learn a lot about the Method while filming the role. He learned about its challenges when you film out of order, and experienced character bleed— the thing that happens when you start unconsciously taking on aspects of your character off set.

Strasberg wasn’t sure at first he could remember lines, so Coppola shot his death scene first to give him some runway to get adjusted. Both Pacino and Strasberg claimed later that they were the other’s protector on set.

FFC asked Lee about billing: “I don’t want any billing”

Coppola was stunned. No billing? Was he nuts? LS responded he didn’t care. But Coppola gave him the last individual name slot in the credits. LS didn’t want to do press, but it happened anyway. Didn’t watch the rushes out of fear.

But he eventually saw it, of course, at a screening. And many times more as the film became huge and he was nominated for an Oscar (he lost to Robert DeNiro, his former student).

After that initial screening, Elia Kazan exclaimed, “Jesus, what a great job he did in my part!”

This story, by the way, comes mostly from Cindy Adams’s biography of Strasberg, which is out of print, but fascinating. She got interviews with everyone involved.