US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — On April 25, Al Pacino celebrates its 80th anniversary. The legendary performer is still livelier than all the living, continuing to act actively, and not anyhow where, but in very prestigious projects. Now he is punishing the Nazis in the series “The Hunters”, and before that, he looked at the light of Quentin Tarantino in his nostalgic ode to the cinema “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.”
Along the way, the actor took advantage of the latest Hollywood fashion for digital rejuvenation of stars and showed gunpowder in the powder flasks in “Irish”. For decades, he and Martin Scorsese were planning to work together and finally finally epoch-closed the general gestalt.
Pacino is known for his piercing gaze and unique style on the verge of insanity, which is characterized by tension and emotional outbursts. A low, but temperamental Italo American is one of the main followers of the acting method – the school of acting, popular in the USA, which developed the ideas of Konstantin Stanislavsky. In the old days, Pacino often did not go out of the way, even outside the set. Even if now he considers such a commitment to the craft somewhat excessive, probably without him he would not have soared to such heights.
Passion for acting
When Alfredo (the full name of the actor – Alfredo James Pacino) was three or four years old, his mother got into the habit of taking him to the movies. Upon coming home, the boy single-handedly played all the roles from the film for the amusement of the whole family. Ros Pacino was in poverty and tried a lot of side jobs before fully concentrating on acting. On the second attempt, he made his way to the Acting Studio of Lee Strasberg, the main teacher of the acting method, where they helped to reveal his potential.
At the dawn of his career, he used numerous trials simply as an opportunity to speak to the public. Thus, he honed his skills, experimented with serving, and watched what worked and what didn’t. He achieved his first successes in the theater, where he was noticed by Francis Ford Coppola.
The director was so impressed by the young talent that he began to defend his candidacy for the main role in The Godfather. The producers agreed with a creak, not just trying to dismiss everyone, but the case ended in victory for Pacino and Coppola. Family crime drama has become one of the most influential films of all time, not least thanks to Alfredo’s play.
The fallen glory had a side negative effect. The actor had to deal with a psychotherapist for 25 years, five hours a week. The children’s trauma due to the father who left the family two years after the birth of Pacino also made itself felt. Already in his youth, he experienced the heavy loss of his mother and grandfather.
All the 1970s, the actor was “on fire”, and all the films came out as a selection. In Serpico, he played a principled policeman opposing corruption among his colleagues, in Dog Half-Day he became an inept bank robber who was looking for money for a sex change operation for his lover, and in Godfather 2 he returned triumphantly to Party of Michael Corleone.
In the 1980s, Pacino slowed down and even took a four-year rest from the cinema. In that decade, all of his indomitable energy was concentrated in the image of the Cuban drug lord Tony Montana in “The Scarface”. In the first half of the 90s, the actor gave the second shock segment of his career, which fit “The Smell of a Woman”, “Carlito’s Way”, “Fight” and other equally worthy paintings.
Not cops and gangsters united
Pacino was often called the heir to Marlon Brando, another significant follower of the acting method. He, however, at some point burned out, retreated and lost interest in the game. Pacino, by contrast, has always lived and lives searching and reincarnating as new heroes. He always respected and considered a noble profession that allows him to be anyone.
However, it is worth noting that he took advantage of such a happy opportunity to a limited extent. Of course, Pacino always had an impressive range – restrained and balanced roles (The Godfather, Donnie Brasco) alternated with wild and expressive (Scarface, Scramble, etc.). Nevertheless, for the most part, he was drawn to criminal paintings – and on which side of the law he found himself in them, that’s how the card went.
With other genres, it was more complicated. He was offered roles in science fiction – he refused the party of Han Solo in Star Wars, because he did not really understand the script. They wanted to see him in action movies, but his maniacal interpretation of the main character in Rambo: First Blood confused the producers, and Die Hard he lost to Bruce Willis. Pacino infrequently spells out in funny films, although he undoubtedly has comedic potential (the evidence can be the villainous mischief under the grotesque plastic make-up in “Dick Tracy”, where he once again portrayed mafiosi).
It can be assumed that genre and entertainment films did not provide him with space to show his boldness. Pacino considers himself a characteristic actor who plays the main roles. Despite being fixed on a gangster theme, Alfredo nevertheless tried himself in a variety of forms. In the romantic film “Frankie and Johnny,” he tenderly cares for Michelle Pfeiffer, playing a simple cafe worker (released from prison, of course). The burning character and talent for wading tirades came in handy for Pacino’s roles of coaches – as, for example, in Every Sunday. His magnetic personality was also excellent for embodying Satan in Devil’s Advocate. In “The Smell of a Woman”, he appeared in the guise of a blind former military man, for which he was awarded his only Oscar
Full immersion
Pacino has repeatedly dissolved in his roles. Wardrobe selection is one of the key tools for creating an image. Pachino not only rehearses in the costumes of his heroes, he lives in them and continues to carry on even after filming, until he gets involved in some new project. Along with vestments in everyday life, the character of his characters sometimes leaked. One day after the play “Richard III,” he continued to unconsciously limp like the king of England. Once, after changing to Serpico, an actor tried to arrest a truck driver for environmental pollution – a police badge from the shoot was useful. Before the film about the racer “Life on loan,” he did not drive a car at all, and after that he stopped himself with a reckless driver. Preparing for “The Smell of a Woman,” Pacino trained with people from a school for the blind, and also walked with a cane.
The directors Alfredo elicits even insignificant details and small details about his heroes. In rehearsals, he relies on intuition and trial and error. He can play the same scene 20 times in different ways. Pacino does not believe in memorizing cues and believes that words should be a continuation of the emotional state. Sometimes he seeks inspiration in the world around him. If some man attracted his attention on the street, the actor could follow him for hours studying his walk, posture and habits.
Pacino retains a love of theater throughout his life. Perhaps out of it comes his frantic expressiveness, which is sometimes perceived as a replay. Pacino regards the frenzy and hellish grimaces as bright colors, to which he consciously resorts as an artist. If the hero behaves in a certain way, that means there is a good reason – it just may not be obvious to the viewer. For example, only many years after the “Controversy” the actor admitted that the detective in his performance sits tightly on cocaine, which explains his eccentric habits. Moreover, in the picture itself, the character’s harmful addictions were not specified at all.
Bad movie savior
When you act in films for as long as Al Pacino, then you willy-nilly fall into wretched films. The maestro has enough dark spots on his reputation (“Gigli”, “Such Different Twins”), but at least he cannot be blamed for hacking. The same Robert De Niro often just serves a number, playing grumpy grandfathers in stupid comedies. Pacino is more demanding. When he is promised attractive money for participating in all kinds of obscene indecency, he considers these proposals as a challenge. With his play, he is trying to raise the level of unimportant paintings to even a mediocre one – overcoming such difficulties provokes a special perverse enthusiasm in him. I want to believe that the widespread recognition of the “Irish” will allow him to choose projects to match his talent and not come up with artificial motivations for himself.
What to watch with Al Pacino:
The Godfather – 2 (1974)
The Scarface (1983)
The Smell of a Woman (1992)
The Fight (1995)
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.