No actor has a perfect filmography. Even Hollywood’s biggest names have had their share of box office failures and critical failures. Often, these missteps happen early in an actor’s career, long before they’ve built a reputation and found their place in the industry. Leonardo DiCaprio made his poorly received direct-to-video debut Creatures 3while Tom Hanks’ first feature film was widely criticized He knows you’re alone. But for Al Pacino, some of the worst entries in his filmography are also the most recent.
Pacino’s career got off to a strong start. After a small first role in the cinema in Me, Nathaliehe landed his first role as a main character in Panic in Needle Park in 1971. A year later, he starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s epic classic The Godfather. Having earned an Academy Award nomination for “Best Supporting Actor,” Pacino went on to star in two films. Godfather suites, Dog afternoon And Scarf.
Many of Pacino’s early films are now considered classics, but the actor began expanding his filmography at the dawn of a new century. Rather than sticking to critically acclaimed gangster series and trusted directors, Pacino starred in a series of critical and commercial flops. Based on the 2003 romantic comedy Gigli to Adam Sandler’s comedy Jack and JillPacino’s filmography now includes some of the best and worst films of all time.
With such an impressive acting resume under his belt, it’s surprising that Pacino doesn’t choose his projects more wisely. He doesn’t need money or experience, so why is he playing roles in terrible movies? The actor explained his thinking in an interview with GQ alongside Robert De Niro.
Explaining why they say yes to specific projects, De Niro first explained: “Sometimes it’s just financial. You do something, you get paid well, and you say, “I’m going to make it work.” Or, “There will be things that are good about this.” » And that’s what I did – when I was a young actor and I had to do stuff, I was lucky to get the part… You don’t always have the luxury of working in a situation like with Marty or David O. Russell. or Francis Coppola or Barry Levinson. Nothing against other directors. But you take your chance.
But Pacino is certainly no longer a young actor who finds himself taking on projects out of necessity. Instead, he takes less successful projects to see if he can fix them: “You know what? Maybe I’m getting into a bad habit now. I think I’m starting to get a little perverted. I’m starting to want to make films that aren’t really very good and try to improve them. And that became my challenge.
He continued to explain his thought process by sharing, “Sometimes they offer you money to do something that is not adequate. And you talk about it. And somewhere inside you, you know that thing will be a lemon. But then when it comes full circle and you see it, you say, “Oh, no. I will improve this. »
Pacino noted that, in his efforts to improve these projects, he feels excited when he manages to save them from complete failure and push them into mediocrity. However, it is a habit that he seeks to break. He concludes: “It’s an impulse that I have to put this aside now. “Whenever I feel like exercising, I lie down until it passes.”
