Al Pacino texts 1-year-old son from 'time to time,' says it's 'fun' being a dad at 84

Al Pacino is having fun being a new dad.

The actor has released a new memoir, " Sonny Boy " (out now), in part to detail his life for his 1-year-old son, Roman , he told BBC .

"I want to be around for this child. And I hope I am," Pacino, 84, told the outlet in an interview published Monday. "I hope I stay healthy, and he knows who his dad is, of course."

The actor says he "texts" his son "from time to time" and that "it's fun" connecting with him. Pacino and Roman's mother, movie producer Noor Alfallah , are no longer together, according to the outlet.

"Everything he does is real. Everything he does is interesting to me," he said, "So, we talk. I play the harmonica with him on the other video thing, and we have made this kind of contact."

The "Serpico" actor said he's gotten questions from friends on why he wrote the memoir, telling the outlet he is "sort of regretting it." For years he has passed up the opportunity, but he felt now "enough has happened in my life it could possibly be interesting enough for someone to read."

Al Pacino says Robert De Niro could've replaced him in 'The Godfather'

The legendary actor is known for " The Godfather " film franchise, but the role of Michael Corleone almost slipped through his hands.

Pacino writes in his memoir that rumors began to swirl that he and director Francis Ford Coppola were going to be "fired" from the project because Pacino "wasn't cutting it," and Coppola was the one who hired him.

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"There was a discomfort among people, even the crew, when I was working," he writes. "I was very conscious of that."

Pacino told BBC that if he had gotten "let go," Robert De Niro (who starred in "The Godfather Part II" as Vito Corleone) could've played his part. "Yeah, sure. Why not?" he told the outlet, chuckling. "Well, you know, I'm not irreplaceable."

Pacino believes Coppola moved a pivotal scene up in the schedule for the actor to prove himself ("He now claims he didn't," Pacino told the BBC), where his character uses a gun hidden in an Italian restaurant's toilet to kill kingpin Virgil Sollozzo and crooked cop Mark McCluskey.

The physical scene, for which he didn't have a stunt double, led him to twist his ankle. He writes that he was relieved to have a reason not to do the film, "but that's not what happened."

"Francis showed the restaurant scene to the studio, and when they looked at it, something was there," he wrote.

Al Pacino credits hip-hop community for embrace of 'Scarface'

Pacino's other notable roles include "Heat," "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Scent of a Woman," but it's 1983's " Scarface " that has grown into a classic film.

Pacino credits the hip-hop community for that.

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"It's got something. It was powerful," Pacino told BBC of playing the role of Tony Montana opposite Michelle Pfeiffer 's Elvira. "It was the hip-hop community that embraced it and were able to see the story in there."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Al Pacino texts 1-year-old son from 'time to time,' says it's 'fun' being a dad at 84