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Studio execs being, well, studio execs, they’re always looking for the next big star. So when Francis Ford Coppola set about to cast Michael Corleone, Paramount knew the role could be a launching pad for a young talent and wanted a Robert Redford type like Ryan O’Neal. Pretty much no one, other than Coppola, wanted Al Pacino. With only one role to his credit — Panic in Needle Park — he wasn’t high on the studio’s list. But when Coppola pictured the scenes of Michael wandering the Sicilian countryside with his bodyguards, he saw Pacino’s face. Still, he screen-tested Martin Sheen and Robert De Niro for the part of Michael, and it didn’t help that Pacino’s sessions were less than stellar. He looked pale and uncertain; not exactly a Mafia don. When George Lucas’ wife Marcia edited the screen tests, she told Coppola, “He undresses you with his eyes.” Coppola agreed and eventually wore the execs down.