One of the greatest actors in all of film history, Al Pacino
established himself during one of film's greatest decades, the 1970s,
and has become an enduring and iconic figure in the world of American
movies...
Born on April 25, 1940, in the Bronx, New York, Pacino's parents (Salvatore and Rose) divorced when he was young. His mother moved them into his grandparents' house. Pacino found himself often repeating the plots and voices of characters he had seen in the movies, one of his favorite activities. Bored and unmotivated in school, the young Al Pacino found a haven in school plays, and his interest soon blossomed into a full-time career.
Starting on the stage, he went through a
lengthy period of depression and poverty, sometimes having to borrow bus
fare to make it to auditions. He made it into the prestigious Actors
Studio in 1966, studying under legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg,
creator of the Method Approach that would become the trademark of many
'70s-era actors. After appearing in a string of plays in supporting
roles, he finally hit it big with "The Indian Wants the Bronx", winning
an Obie award for the 1966-67 season. That was followed by a Tony Award
for "Does the Tiger Wear a Necktie?". His first feature films made
little departure from the gritty realistic stage performances that
earned him respect: he played a junkie in Pánico en Needle Park (1971) after his film debut in Yo, Natalie (1969). What came next would change his life forever.
The role of Michael Corleone in El padrino (1972) was one of the most sought-after of the time: Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Ryan O'Neal, Robert De Niro and a host of others either wanted it or were mentioned for it, but director Francis Ford Coppola
had his heart set on the unknown Italian Pacino for the role, although
pretty much everyone else--from the studio to the producers to some of
the cast members--didn't want him. Though Coppola won out through slick
persuasion, Pacino was in constant fear of being fired during the
hellish shoot. Much to his (and Coppola's) relief, the film was a
monster hit that did wonders for everyone's career, including Pacino's,
and earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting
Actor.
Instead of taking on easier projects for the big money he could
now command, however, Pacino threw his support behind what he considered
tough but important films, such as the true-life crime drama Serpico (1973) and the tragic real-life bank robbery film Tarde de perros
(1975). He opened eyes around the film world for his brave choice of
roles, and he was nominated three consecutive years for the "Best Actor"
Academy Award. He faltered slightly with Un instante, una vida (1977), but regained his stride with Justicia para todos
(1979), for which he received another Academy Award nomination for Best
Actor. This would, unfortunately, signal the beginning of a decline in
his career, which produced such critical and commercial flops as A la caza (1980) and Autor, autor (1982).
He took on another vicious gangster role and cemented his legendary status in the ultra-violent cult hit El precio del poder (1983), but a monumental mistake was about to follow. Revolución
(1985) endured an endless and seemingly cursed shoot in which equipment
was destroyed, weather was terrible, and Pacino became terribly ill
with pneumonia. Constant changes in the script also further derailed a
project that seemed doomed from the start anyway. The Revolutionary War
film is considered one of the worst films ever, not to mention one of
the worst of his career, resulted in his first truly awful reviews and
kept him off the screen for the next four years.
Returning to the stage,
Pacino has done much to give back and contribute to the theatre, which
he considers his first love. He directed a film, The Local Stigmatic (1990), but it remains unreleased. He lifted his self-imposed exile with the striking Melodía de seducción
(1989) as a hard-drinking cop. It marked the second phase of Pacino's
career, being the first to feature his now famous dark, owl eyes and
hoarse, gravelly voice. Returning to the Corleones, he made El padrino. Parte III (1990) and earned raves for his first comedic role in the colorful Dick Tracy (1990). This earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and two years later he was nominated for Éxito a cualquier precio (1992). He went into romantic mode for Frankie y Johnny (1991). In 1992 he finally won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his amazing performance in Esencia de mujer
(1992).
A mixture of technical perfection (he plays a blind man) and
charisma, the role was tailor-made for him, and remains a classic. The
next few years would see Pacino becoming more comfortable with acting
and movies as a business, turning out great roles in great films with
more frequency and less of the demanding personal involvement of his
wilder days. Atrapado por su pasado (1993) proved another gangster classic, as did the epic crime drama Heat (1995) directed by Michael Mann and co-starring Robert De Niro,
although they only had a few scenes together. He returned to the
director's chair for the highly acclaimed and quirky Shakespeare
adaptation Looking for Richard (1996).
City Hall, la sombra de la corrupción (1996), Donnie Brasco (1997) and Pactar con el diablo (1997) all came out in this period. Reteaming with Mann and then Oliver Stone, he gave two commanding performances in El dilema (1999) and Un domingo cualquiera
(1999). In his personal life, Pacino is one of Hollywood's most
enduring and notorious bachelors, having never been married. He has a
daughter, Julie Marie, with acting teacher Jan Tarrant, and a new set of
twins with longtime girlfriend Beverly D'Angelo. His romantic history includes a long-time romance with "Godfather" co-star Diane Keaton.
With his intense and gritty performances, Pacino was an original in the
acting profession. His Method approach would become the process of many
actors throughout time, and his unbeatable number of classic roles has
already made him a legend among film buffs and all aspiring actors and
directors. His commitment to acting as a profession and his constant
screen dominance has established him as one of the movies' true legends.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Brian Stewart
Born on April 25, 1940, in the Bronx, New York, Pacino's parents (Salvatore and Rose) divorced when he was young. His mother moved them into his grandparents' house. Pacino found himself often repeating the plots and voices of characters he had seen in the movies, one of his favorite activities. Bored and unmotivated in school, the young Al Pacino found a haven in school plays, and his interest soon blossomed into a full-time career.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Brian Stewart
Trade Mark
Volcanic tirade, smoke-burnished voice
Frequently plays men of power and/or authority
Surly but essentially moral characters with deep capacity for violence
Jet black hair
Diminutive frame, off-set by his formidable bearing
Trivia
October 1997: Ranked #4 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
January 1961: Was arrested, charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
Son of Sal Pacino (insurance agent) and Rose Pacino (she died when Al was 22).
Dropped out of school at the age of 17.
Turned down the role of Ted Kramer in Kramer contra Kramer (1979).
Turned down Raymond J. Barry's role in Nacido el cuatro de julio (1989).
Turned down Marlon Brando's role in Apocalypse Now (1979).
Turned down the role of Han Solo in La guerra de las galaxias (1977).
Turned down Hector Elizondo's role in Pretty Woman (1990).
Turned down Gene Hackman's role in Marea roja (1995).
His maternal grandparents originate from Corleone, Sicily. His paternal grandparents originate from San Fratello, Sicily.
Was frequently refered to as "that midget Pacino" by producers of El padrino (1972) who didn't want him for the part of Michael Corleone.
Francis Ford Coppola asked Pacino to play Captain Willard in his film Apocalypse Now (1979).
Pacino politely turned down the offer, saying he'd "do anything" for Francis but he "woudn't go to war with him!"
1994: Stopped a two-pack-a-day smoking habit to protect his voice.
In the mid-1980s he had been smoking four packs of cigarettes a day. He
now only occasionally smokes herbal cigarettes.
Al was so much into character (playing a plain-clothes NYC cop) while filming Serpico (1973) he actually pulled over and threatened to arrest a truck driver for exhaust pollution.
Is an avid fan of opera.
Once worked as an usher at Carnegie Hall.
Larry King considers Pacino's appearance on his show Larry King Live (1985) in November 1996 as one of his personal all-time favorite interviews.
One of the few Hollywood stars who has never married.
Despite the fact that he starred in "The Resistable Rise of Arturo
Ui" for Off- Broadway scale pay (the minimum salary allowed by Actor's
Equity), the production had the highest ticket price in Off-Broadway
history at $100 per ticket.
Won his first Oscar twenty-one years after his first nomination.
He and Chris Sarandon improvised their scene on the phone in the film Tarde de perros (1975).
Studied acting under his friend Charles Laughton.
He is an avid William Shakespeare fan.
Was voted the Number 1 greatest movie star of all time in a Channel 4 (UK) poll.
For a short while, he was the only actor to be in the #1 Best and Worst Movie on IMDb: El padrino (1972) and Una relación peligrosa (2003).
In a "Playboy" magazine interview, he claimed that he was fired
from his job as a movie theater usher while walking down the staircase
and admiring himself in the mirrored wall.
Portrayed crime bosses in The Godfather Trilogy, El precio del poder (1983) and Dick Tracy (1990).
In 2004 he became the 18th performer to win the Triple Crown of Acting. Oscar: Best Actor, Esencia de mujer
(1992); Tony: Best Supporting Actor-Play "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?:
(1969) and Best Actor-Play "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" (1977);
and Emmy: Best Actor-Miniseries/Movie, Angels in America (2003).
Read for Chazz Palminteri's part in Sospechosos habituales (1995). Source: Director Bryan Singer, "Pursuing The Usual Suspects" documentary from UK DVD.
He is the stepson of actress and make-up artist Katherin Kovin-Pacino.
He has four sisters: Josette, a teacher, twins Roberta Pacino and Paula, and a younger sister named Desiree, whom Pacino's father adopted whilst married to his fourth wife.
His performance in the Broadway play "Does a Tiger Wear a
Necktie?" won him a Tony Award for Best Dramatic Supporting Actor, and a
Drama Desk Award and Theatre World Award for Best Supporting Actor in
1969.
Turned down the lead role of Roy Neary in Encuentros en la tercera fase (1977)
His favorite actress is Julie Christie.
He and Jamie Foxx
are two out of the only three actors to be nominated for an Academy
Award for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in the same year. (Barry Fitzgerald did it first in 1945) Pacino was nominated in 1993 for Esencia de mujer (1992) and Éxito a cualquier precio (1992) / Foxx in 2005 for Ray (2004) and Collateral (2004). Both men won the Best Actor award, and they both played blind men in their roles: Pacino as Frank Slade and Foxx as Ray Charles.
Grew up in the South Bronx, New York City
Attended The High School of the Performing Arts until he dropped out.
Has a production company called Chal Productions. The "Ch" is in tribute his friend "Charlie Laughton" (not the actor Charles Laughton) while the "Al" is for himself.
Worked in the mail room of Commentary magazine.
Briefly worked as a stand-up comic early in his career.
Alec Baldwin, who co-starred with Pacino in Éxito a cualquier precio (1992) and Looking for Richard (1996), wrote a 65-page final thesis on Pacino and method acting for his degree at NYU.
Had been friends with John Cazale since they were teenagers. They starred together in Tarde de perros (1975), El padrino. Parte II (1974) and El padrino (1972).
Turned down the role of Richard Sherman for a remake of La tentación vive arriba (1955) which was never filmed.
Turned down role as Michael Corleone in the Godfather videogame.
2006: His performance as Sonny Wortzik in Tarde de perros (1975) is ranked #4 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.
2006: His performance as Michael Corleone in El padrino. Parte II (1974) is ranked #20 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.
His performance as "Michael Corleone" in El padrino. Parte II (1974) is ranked #11 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains.
His performance as Frank Serpico in Serpico (1973) is ranked #40 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains.
Was director Bryan Singer's first choice for the role of "Dave Kujan" in Sospechosos habituales (1995). Pacino passed on the role and has since stated that that is the role he regrets passing on the most.
Stated in an interview that the movie he most wanted to be in but couldn't get the role was El castañazo (1977). Director George Roy Hill opted not to go with Pacino because he could not ice skate.
Revealed to James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio (1994) for the first time ever that his maternal grandfather was born in Corleone, Sicily.
1970-75: Lived with Jill Clayburgh.
Over the end credits of Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005) the two stars, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon compete at doing Pacino impressions.
Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger envisioned a cast of Pacino, Julie Christie and Laurence Olivier for Marathon Man
(1976). Pacino has said that the only actress he had ever wanted to
work with was Christie, who he claimed was "the most poetic of
actresses."
Producer Robert Evans, who disparaged the vertically challenged Pacino as "The Midget" when Francis Ford Coppola wanted him for El padrino
(1972) and had thought of firing him during the early shooting of the
now-classic film, vetoed Pacino for the lead. Instead, Evans insisted on
the casting of the even shorter Dustin Hoffman!
On her part, Christie -- who was notoriously finicky about accepting
parts, even in prestigious, sure-fire material -- turned down the female
lead, which was then taken by Marthe Keller (who, ironically, became Pacino's lover after co-starring with him in Un instante, una vida
(1977)). Of his dream cast, Schlesinger only got Olivier, who was
nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Pacino has yet to co-star
with Christie.
His Oscar nomination for El padrino (1972) marked his first of 4 consecutive nominations, a feat he shares with Jennifer Jones (1943-1946), Thelma Ritter (1950-1953), Marlon Brando (1951-1954) and Elizabeth Taylor (1957-1960).
He has been a friend of HRH Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, for several years, and has stayed as his guest at Highgrove House.
Former New York deputy mayor Ken Lipper was one of Pacino's classmates in school.
(Summer 1992) Starred on Broadway alongside Sheryl Lee in Oscar Wilde's "Salome", in the Circle in the Square Theatre, under the direction of Robert Allan Ackerman. The play costarred Suzanne Bertish, Arnold Vosloo and Esai Morales.
When asked by the AFI, he named El árbol de los zuecos (1978) and Cantando bajo la lluvia (1952) as his favorite films.
Got Kevin Spacey his first major role in a film. Pacino saw Spacey performing on Broadway and suggested him to the director of Éxito a cualquier precio (1992) for the role of "John Williamson".
He is a huge fan of Dick Van Dyke.
The voice of Moe the Bartender from The Simpsons was based on Pacino in Tarde de perros (1975).
Lives in Palisades, New York.
He studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City.
Spoke three of the American Film Institute's 100 Movie Quotes: "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." from El padrino. Parte II (1974) at #58, "Say 'hello' to my little friend!" from El precio del poder (1983) at #61 and "Attica! Attica!" from Tarde de perros (1975) at #86.
He was awarded the 2011 American National Medal of the Arts for
his services to drama on February 13, 2012 at the White House in
Washington D.C.
Starred as King Herod in Oscar Wilde's "Salomé" on Broadway in 1992 opposite Sheryl Lee (directed by Robert Allan Ackerman), and in 2003 opposite Marisa Tomei (directed by Estelle Parsons). He reprised the role opposite Jessica Chastain in 2006 in Los Angeles and in the documentary-drama film Wilde Salomé (2011) that he also wrote and directed.
One of the few Razzie Award winners to have won an acting award for playing himself. He won Worst Supporting Actor for Jack y su gemela (2011).
Became a father for the 1st time at age 49 when his [now ex]
partner Jan Tarrant gave birth to their daughter Julie Marie Pacino, aka
Julie Pacino, on October 16, 1989.
Performing on Broadway in "Salome" alongside Sheryl Lee, in the Circle in the Square Theatre, New York, USA. [June 1992]
Starring in "Salome: The Reading" with Marisa Tomei on Broadway. [April 2003]
Palisades, New York: Acting [February 2012]
Release of his book, "Al Pacino in Conversation with Lawrence Grobel".
During the early 80s Pacino tried unsuccessfully to develop a biographical film on Amedeo Modigliani.
Personal Quotes
The problem with me is, I guess, the way I express myself, you
have to be with me 50 years before you can get a sense of what I'm
talking about.
I can't say I've been sober though. I don't like that word. What does it mean? 'Sober! He's very sober'.
There are times when I have a temperament. Yes, my temperament is there ... but I hope I'm gentle. Yes, I think I am.
When I try to explain anything I always end up trying to be right
usually, but not truthful necessarily. Trying to give the right answer
or what I think is the right answer. It's a human instinct. You try to
be as clever as you can be. You're trying to come off like you really
know what the hell's going on, when you don't!
I like what Norman Mailer
said about alcohol: 'Drink has killed a lot of my brain cells and I
think I would have been a better writer without it, but it would be one
less way to relax.'
Did you know I started out as a stand-up comic? People don't believe me when I tell them.
[on whether acting and his roles reflected who he is] In the end you're just playing a role.
I'll tell you something. And this is a fact.
When I was doing El precio del poder
(1983), I remember being in love at that time. One of the few times in
my life. And I was so glad it was at that time. I would come home and
she would tell me about her life that day and all her problems and I
remember saying to her, 'Look, you really got me through this picture',
because I would shed everything when I came home.
That's right! That's right! We know the best feeling in the world
is the one between the second and third martini. That was my deal. I
just enjoyed who I became when I was drinking, so that was something
hard to break. I became much quieter, and funny. I must say, that kind
of thing came out.
I hope the perception is that I'm an actor, I never intended to be a movie star.
I guess you find yourself repeating certain motifs. But at the
heart of it all, I'm an actor, always looking for a role. And then you
try to make things fresh.
People always said that time, the '70s, was about pretty boys, and then I came along!
One hopes to find out about the [movie] you're in while you're
doing it, not several years later, which is usually when I find out. I'm
like, 'Wow, that was a dud! I didn't know, nobody would tell me!' I've
done things for certain reasons, but it [comes from] thinking on your
feet... Sometimes actors do things not because we have a great desire
[for it], but because it's work, and I'm starting to wonder about that.
[quoted by Robert Osborne
in "Academy Awards 1974 Oscar Annual"] I couldn't exist just doing
films. But on the other hand, there is the fame that comes with it, and
the money. My problem is I still want to play Hamlet in some little
theater somewhere, and time is running out.
[Presenting the Lifetime of Achievement Award to director Sidney Lumet at the 2005 Academy Awards] As an old village poet put it to me in the 1960s. [If you dig it, it's yours]. I dug Sidney Lumet
back then. I dig him now because what he had to give, I took and made
it mine. I'm forever grateful along with all the other actors and
writers who have benefited from Sidney's genius.
[on his friend and Heat (1995) co-star Robert De Niro]
We know each other's minds. We have shared some things that are
personal to us, such as our roles. I know Bobby through his roles. But,
then, I don't think we actually talked about the actual work of actors.
[on doing Espantapájaros (1973) with Gene Hackman]
Gene and I are two people not very similar. We had to play a very close
relationship, but I just didn't think we were as connected as we should
have been. We seemed apart. We didn't have altercations, we didn't hate
each other.
But we didn't communicate, didn't think in the same terms.
Gene and I were thrown together, but under ordinary circumstances we'd
never cavort or be friends. It was two worlds - but I have to say that I
was as much responsible as he was.
[on whether or not acting is still challenging for him] The
challenge? It's always a challenge of a sort. It's a challenge to get up
and go and leave your family and go out there in all different parts of
the world and do a picture and try to make it come alive . . .
You're
still challenged for that. I mean, it's the same story. It's just not
changed. It seems to be the same thing it always was. It's this effort.
If you get excited about a thing then things are generally a little
easier. If you get enthusiastic and you want to do something and you
feel you are into something then things start to come. But usually to
find the enthusiasm and the appetite, that's the challenge.
[on why his film Chinese Coffee
(2000) has yet to be released] 'Coffee' is done, I got a couple of
little important things to do about it, like little tiny things, and
THEN I will unveil it. It's not a movie that you put in a . . . it needs
a certain environment to flourish in. It's just the way it is. It
doesn't make it better or worse than the picture. It's just the way it
is, the nature of it.
My first language was shy. It's only by having been thrust into the limelight that I have learned to cope with my shyness.
I don't understand the hatred and fear of gays and bisexuals and
lesbians...it's a concept I honestly cannot grasp. To me, it's not who
you love...a man, a woman, what have you...it's the fact THAT you love.
That is all that truly matters.
[When asked what romantic character he would want to be] [Pablo Picasso].
I love the idea that he used to just sit and stare at an empty canvas
for as long as 12 hours straight. If you keep staring at the canvas, the
hope is that something or someone will come to mind. That's a romantic
notion in itself.
In America most everybody who's Italian is half Italian. Except
me. I'm all Italian. I'm mostly Sicilian, and I have a little bit of
Neapolitan in me. You get your full dose with me.
[on Julie Christie] The most poetic of actresses.
The only problem is, I don't have the appetite to make my own
pictures. I don't want to direct. So I'm always in a kind of passive
position, waiting for someone to come to me with a project... That I
sort of don't like.
[on Heat
(1995)] I remember chasing Bobby De Niro around at 3 a.m. I didn't warm
up and boom, there went my hamstring. I was like, "Great, I feel like
old Al." Then I realized, "I AM old Al." I guess I have to keep in shape
as I get older. But I don't like to work out. Whenever I get the urge
to exercise, I lie down until it passes.
It surprised me, the feeling I got when I won the Oscar for Esencia de mujer
(1992). It was a new feeling. I'd never felt it. I don't see my Oscar
much now. But when I first got it, there was a feeling for weeks
afterward that I guess is akin to winning a gold medal in the Olympics.
It's like you've won a race and everybody knows you won. It's a
wonderful feeling, a complete feeling.
He who persists at his folly will one day be wise.
After every movie, Humphrey Bogart
-- even at the end -- was very worried he'd never get another part. If
you don't get the job, there's no work, there's no outlet, there's no
expression, there's no painting. You just live and hope that another day
will come with a role that will serve as a canvas for you.
Gary Cooper was kind of a phenomenon - his ability to take something and elevate it, give it such dignity. One of the great presences. Charles Laughton was my favorite. Jack Nicholson has that kind of persona; he's also a fine actor. Robert Mitchum's great. Lee Marvin, too. These guys are terrific actors.
I am a dancer, but I don't think I would be on Dancing with the Stars (2005) mainly because I would be too shy.
The most popular movie I've ever made is El precio del poder (1983), all over the world. It's amazing to me. It's wonderful. We sometimes forget that it was Oliver Stone who wrote it. He is a political creature, and I think that is an undercurrent in the movie. And the combination of him and Brian De Palma made for this kind of fusion or explosion. It worked.
(1979 quote on his first time at the Oscars) I was at the Oscars
once, for Serpico. That was the second time I was nominated. I was
sitting in the third or fourth row with Diane Keaton. Jeff Bridges was
there with his girl. No one expected me to come. I was a little high.
Somebody had done something to my hair, blew it or something, and I
looked like I had a bird's nest on my head, a real mess. I sat there and
tried to look indifferent because I was so nervous. Any time I'm
nervous, I try to put on an indifferent or a cold look.
At one point, I
turned to Jeff Bridges and said, "Hey, looks like there won't be time to
get to the Best Actor awards." He gave me a strange look. He said, "Oh,
really?" I said, "It's over, the hour is up." He said, "It's three
hours long." I thought it was an hour TV show, can you imagine that? And
I had to pee-bad. So I popped a Valium. Actually, I was eating Valium
like they were candy. Chewed on them. Finally came the Best Actor. Can
you imagine the shape I was in? I couldn't have made it to the stage. I
was praying, "Please don't let it be me. Please." And I hear . . . "Jack
Lemmon." I was just so happy I didn't have to get up, because I never
would have made it.
(1979, on his beginning as an actor at the High School of Performing Arts) I was never very happy with performing; it didn't turn me on much. If I made a catch at third base, I'd do a double somersault and sprawl out on the ground. I was acting-overacting. They taught Stanislavsky at Performing Arts. That whole thing about the Method and serious acting, having to feel it, I thought it was crazy. What was going on? Where was the fun? So I was kind of bored with it.
(1979, on his pre-fame job as a building superintendent) I was
about 26. My friend told me about this job with a rent-free apartment
and $14 a week. So I went down and got a boiler's permit and came back
and I was a super. It was my first real place that was not a rooming
house or sharing with a girl-I had lived with a girl before that. Now I
had my own little home. I had no money, hardly anything to eat, but I
had a roof over my head. I was a super for 11 months. I drank, actually,
but I hung in there and came out of it. It was a very fruitful time
and, at the same time, it was the lowest time in my life. I used to hang
an 8 x 10 glossy of me on the door.
[on people considering him a legend] I'm very flattered to hear
that, that compliment. I don't think of myself as anything but an actor
struggling to find the next role and when I do get the role to try and
see if I can find any way into it.
With young actors I learn from them, just as hopefully I always
will. If I were to advise them in some way, I would say this is a craft
that you just have to keep doing. Do it whenever you can and you
shouldn't spend too much time dealing with the fact that there's a world
out there with a lot of competition. You have to educate yourself. You
have to read. You have to see things that are inspiring to you.
[on the casting of Michael Corleone in El padrino
(1972)] Francis [Ford Coppola] knew I could do the part, and so did I.
But he kept asking me to test again and again. I didn't want to go. I
don't go where I'm not wanted. Once I got the role, I was waking up at
four or five in the morning and going into the kitchen to brood over
[it].
[on preparing to play the character of Tony Montana in El precio del poder
(1983)] I worked with an expert in knife combat, with a physical
education guy who helped me get the kind of body I wanted for the part. I
used the boxer Roberto Durán
a little bit. There was an aspect of Durán , a certain lion in him that
I responded to in this character. And I was very inspired by Meryl Streep's work in La decisión de Sophie
(1982). I thought that her way of involving herself in playing someone
who is from another country and another world was particularly fine and
committed and... courageous.
I'm the same now as I've always been - sort of a recluse. People
resent me for remaining myself when they think I should be acting like a
superstar. I never wanted to be an actor and I don't particularly enjoy
it. I have to act. There just isn't anything else for me.
[on being in Dublin, Ireland] I always feel so at home here, it's
great. In fact, I just want to do a movie here so then I could really
stay for a while, get around and see it, and be a part of it.
[on the tough neighborhood he grew up in] They used to call it
Fort Apache - the 41st Precinct. But that was the start of the heroin
thing. Around 1948 that's when the drugs came into New York. That's when
the trouble started. Of all my dearest, closest friends from that time,
none of them survived.
[on his acting teacher Lee Strasberg] Someone said to him: 'Oh, I know you.' He replied: 'You know my name. You don't know me'.
[on being offered the part of Michael Corleone in El padrino
(1972)] Naturally my first thought was: 'I can't play that. It's a
really hard part. Can't I play Sonny? That's a good part.' Then all this
screen testing began. It was the Scarlett O'Hara of its day. Francis
put that cast together and they okayed everybody except for me and Marlon Brando. Finally, they okayed Marlon. 'But this kid? No way!'
[on working with Marlon Brando in El padrino
(1972)] I loved him. He was such a sensitive person. He saw the
difficulties I was having and I think he saw a little of himself when he
was young. I was in awe. I remember once he came up behind me and gave
me a little massage. 'You okay?' he'd say.
Something happened in the 1980s that is hard to define. It had something to do with the movies that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas - both very close friends of Francis Ford Coppola
- started to make. I met them when they were kids. I saw them as real
film people. I got no feeling of theatre from them. They are geniuses.
But they set the standard for a new kind of movie. You also can't
discount the impact of television. It's a complex story. Those socially
concerned movies like Serpico (1973) or Tarde de perros (1975) or Taxi Driver
(1976) were no longer as doable. Those films became independent film.
They were no longer launched as brassy marquee features. That's exactly
right. You look at Pánico en Needle Park (1971): a film about two drug addicts in the city. That was made by Fox. They could never get that made today.
[on El precio del poder
(1983)] We couldn't show our faces after it opened. I was at a party
after a screening at Sardi's. I walked in and the faces looked like
those in a wax museum. People were sitting so still. Liza Minnelli was there. She hadn't seen the movie. She came up to me and said: 'What did you do to these people?' And yet it survived.
The first thing that comes to mind about Melodía de seducción (1989)? Ellen Barkin's body.
[on rejecting the role of John McClane in Jungla de cristal (1988)] I gave that boy [Bruce Willis] a career.
I was smoking at nine and smoking a pipe by 12... well, I was
dramatic. The cop on the beat used to buy us booze when I was 13 and 14.
He was a great guy. He would say, 'Have a little of this', and he would
keep a watch on us. I don't know that it would be politically correct
but he is not working anymore and is long retired.
[on turning down the part of Han Solo in La guerra de las galaxias (1977)] That role was mine for the taking but I couldn't understand the script.
[on The Godfather trilogy] A long, awful, tiring story.
I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.
Salary
| The Godfather (1972) | $35.000 |
| The Godfather: Part II (1974) | $500.000and 10% of the gross after break-even |
| ...And Justice for All. (1979) | $1.000.000 |
| The Godfather: Part III (1990) | $5.000.000 |
| Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) | $1.500.000 |
| Carlito's Way (1993) | $6.000.000 |
| Insomnia (2002) | ca. $11,000,000 |
| S1m0ne (2002) | $11.000.000 |
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