American Film Institute's 50th Life Achievement Award is received by Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola.

For this, the film's stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro paid tribute to the filmmaker.

"The things you do when you're young that you get fired for are the same things that years, later they give you a lifetime achievement award," the 85-year-old added.

"You know, none of us were fired from The Godfather, but some of us got pretty close. I got the closest," the 81-year-old noted.

Pacino and Niro's Godfather is considered one of the greatest films in cinema's history.