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Its temptingto call him the inimitable Al Pacino, although he is the most imitated actor in the world.
There are, after all, two categories of imitation:impersonation(Say hello to my leel friend!
Some, including Johnny Depp, of all people, think hes mad.
Most see the larger wisdom in his design for living and working and also think hes mad.
For him, there is no other way.
Its called Pacinos Way.
He is thrilled that Pacinos Way was proposed by the folks at the Quad Cinema in the Village.
I was just stunned by the fact that the Quad offered this to me, he says.
I immediately crashed on when I was a kid down there.
Sometimes you feel closer to what you were than you expected.
School even theFameschool couldnt hold his attention.
It was next to NYU …
I so flash on the Village there.
It makes me feel good to think about that time.
Martin Sheen was a fellow poor player.
We were rooming together, me and Martin, he says.
We used to clean up the stage and wash the halls.
Marty got to play inThe Connection,and he was outstanding.
I remember sitting in the back every night, watching the plays.
Everything was happening in the Village at that time, all these different kinds of groups.
That environment fed you, and you wanted to be there …
I think thats where I learned everything.
For a while, he worked as a messenger atCommentarymagazine for the likes of Norman Podhoretz and Susan Sontag.
They just thought I was an energetic, crazy kid, which was great.
I loved being there, I must say.
One of the few places I wasnt fired from.
Hed say, What are you talking about?
What are we doing here?
What the fuck are you saying to me?
Id say, Well, I dont know.
Are you just saying the words of the play?
I dont want to hear that.
He would circle it, circle it, circle it, until we came right to the scene.
I mean, amazing stuff.
That spirit was in the earlier films I did.
He hadnt learned to settle down and open himself up to the camera.
The story of his casting in his second film,The Godfather,is well known.
Among the people who didnt think Pacino was right for Michael was … Pacino.
He wanted to play the hotheaded Sonny.
He auditioned and auditioned.
It didnt get easier once Pacino got the part.
I remember not being able to articulate [that arc], even to Francis, he says.
For the first couple weeks of filming, they were going to let me go.
Its not how he ever was again!
And he thinks of his acting as musical.
Im a tenor, he says, and tenors sometimes like to hit the high note.
It was the assistant director he talks about.
What can you say, he asks, about a movie that comes in 17 days ahead of schedule?
Rehearsal, improvs, time to waste productively thats Pacinos way, the Village-theater way.
He says its the time and repetition that allow him to be break free and soar.
Talking aboutScarecrowyields two more wonderful details.
He left before the rest but tells me to see that first shot on the big screen.
He agrees that clowning is essential to his style.
Hell push his performances to the point of foolishness and hope his directors will protect him.
The director, Sidney Lumet, rehearsed for three weeks, and with Cazale, too.
The shooting was full of discoveries.
He says out of our hands.
Its got a life of its own, and that was it.
Thats the direction he gave me.
He says, Say Attica.
I said, What?
He said, Go ahead.
Say it to the crowd out there.
So I sort of half got it, so when I got out there, I looked around.
This is on-camera now.
I mean, that is what movies are.
He adds, See it on the big 35-millimeter screen.
Youre, like, in the middle of it.
Its like 3-D.
Pacino has never been much for exhibiting himself in real life.
He alludes to his periods of deep depression and the time in the 70s when his drinking became debilitating.
Putting it in the retrospective was quite a move.
He says to see it again, and while the prospect is daunting, I will, damn it.
Do what you cant do.
Thats how you learn.
And then theres a series of brushstrokes.
And a piece of the character is alive.
Pacino says, Isnt that great, to hear that?
So, I play around with stuff.
But he trusted Scorsese and De Niro enough to hop aboard.
Theyre very much L.A. kids, he says with love but a hint of sadness.
He also wants them to know that happiness is possible only as a by-product ofconcentration.
So thats okay to know that.
Its really a struggle.
I mean, the more you get involved with things, the more you see what the challenges are.
Im always trying to figure things out myself, you know?
Ive been in therapy most of my adult life.
Me:Me too!
Pacino:I like it, dont you?
I dont lay on any couch.
Its funny, isnt it?
Ill take his word for it.
Its between you and you, and believe it or not, thats when the creative moments come.
Just as an aside, I think you will get what Im talking about.
Alright, I hate to be you with that spiel I gave you in your head.
Man I talked a mile, didnt I?
Im going back to bed.
Best,
Al
Pacinos Way is at the Quad, March 14-30.
