Al Pacino, Interviews — Book Review

Al Pacino by Lawrence Grobel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As Pacino himself writes in the Foreward “I had not yet said yes to our first interview, but when I read his interview with Marlon Brando on Brando’s island in Tahiti, I was impressed.” Since that day in 1979 when he agreed to the interview, the two have become good friends and over the years they did many casual interviews.

Through these nine interviews, all the way up to 2005, you can see what kind of friendship they have and what kind of love and dedication Pacino has for acting.

I personally became impressed, before reading this book, when I read several bits of trivia* about his role in Dog Day Afternoon.

"Although he had initially agreed to play the part of Sonny [In Dog Day Afternoon], Al Pacino told Sidney Lumet near the start of production that he couldn't play it. Pacino had just completed production on The Godfather: Part II and was physically exhausted and depressed after the shoot. With his reliance on the Method, Pacino didn't relish the thought of working himself up to a state of near hysteria every day."

I’ve seen The Godfather films dozens of times, but had only recently seen Dog Day Afternoon and I could not believe he did what I personally thought were his most phenomenal and disparate acting performances—back to back!

Even though he eventually accepted the role in Dog Day Afternoon "halfway through the production, Al Pacino collapsed from exhaustion and had to be hospitalized for a short time. After production was completed, he decided to stop doing films for a while and return to stage work."

I knew then that the man was acutely dedicated to his craft and that was one of the reasons he was so good at it.

Throughout the interviews in this book you get to witness more about his dedication to the craft and his express love of theater especially “The Bard of Avon” William Shakespeare. You could tell that even though he has made millions off of movie roles he could easily be just as happy touring the country doing theater. A fact his now old friend and writer stated as he wrote in the final chapter of the book. I have only quoted several passages below.

And yet, Pacino is different. He still can’t wrap himself around the idea of doing something strictly for the money…He can’t take the millions and run when the script doesn’t capture his imagination. He’s a throwback to a time when artists did what pleased them, what inspired them, and if anyone liked what they did, fine with them. But if they didn’t, it shouldn’t matter…Because it’s not about money. It’s never been about money, with Pacino. It’s about how he feels inside his body and his head. It’s about his art. And in age of commerce, Al Pacino just may be the last artist standing.

That pretty much sums up what I thought of Alfredo James Pacino after reading his interviews in this book. He is a dedicated an artisan as I ever seen.

COMMENTARY
I have to state that I WAS NOT looking for a book about Al Pacino, but when I saw this title and read a little more about it I just had to read about whom I think is the world’s greatest actor. I came to that conclusion after reading headlines about an October 2012 Time magazine article naming Daniel Day Lewis the “world’s greatest actor”. After some thought I thought “Did Al Pacino die?”.

Left to Right: Al Pacino in The Godther, Part II (1974)  and Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

I’m sorry, as I stated above his most phenomenal and disparate acting performances (in The Godfather, Part II and Dog Day Afternoon) were just that, phenomenal and disparate—back to back! Never have I seen such acting.    
     
*Trivia from IMDb, the Internet Movie Database.

View all my BOOK reviews