Happy Sad Confused - HSC SHORT: Al Pacino

Episode Date: September 12, 2014

This special Happy Sad Confused: Short features Al Pacino in a conversation at the Toronto International Film Festival. Josh talks to Pacino about his two new films, why he turned down playing Han Solo, and why he’s expecting a phone call from Marvel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the Volvo Fall Experience event, discover exceptional offers and thoughtful design that leaves plenty of room for autumn adventures. And see for yourself how Volvo's legendary safety brings peace of mind to every crisp morning commute. This September, lease a 2026 X-E-90 plug-in hybrid from $599 bi-weekly at 3.99% during the Volvo Fall Experience event. Conditions apply, visit your local Volvo retailer

or go to explorevolvo.com. Ontario, the weight is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived. Golden Nugget Online Casino is live. Bringing Vegas-style excitement and a world-class gaming experience right to your fingertips. Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting, signing up is fast and simple. And in just a few clicks, you can have access to our exclusive library of the best slots and top-tier table games. Make the most of your downtime with unbeatable promotions and jackpots that can turn any mundane moment into a gold

Opportunity at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Take a spin on the slots, challenge yourself at the tables, or join a live dealer game to feel the thrill of real-time action, all from the comfort of your own devices. Why settle for less when you can go for the gold at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Gambling Problem Call Connects Ontario 1866531-260-19 and over, physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly.

Hey, guys, welcome to a happy, sad, confused short. You heard that right. I have created a new category for this podcast. The short version. You might notice in your feed, this is not the customary 30 to 45 to 50 minutes that the interviews tend to be on HappySat Confused. This is a briefer one, but I decided, you know what, it's Al Frickin' Puccino. and my only criteria for this podcast is basically talking to people

that I would want to hear myself and when it comes to someone like Pacino who doesn't do a ton of press in fact this is my first conversation with him in my many years of doing this sort of thing I decided it was worth my while and hopefully worth your while to listen to a really

you know it's only 15 minutes long but there's a lot of insight and humor and pure Puccino we pack into this conversation. Some context for you guys. This was recorded at the Toronto Film Festival, as I said. This happened very much at the last minute. I didn't know I was sitting down to talk to him

until a couple hours before. Believe me, I wish I'd had time to prepare for a conversation like this. It was very much by the seat of my pants. But when you get a chance to talk to someone like Pachino, you go for it. it. People have asked me in recent years, like who I've never talked to, and that I wanted to. And he was pretty much to the top of the list. I'll be honest. I need a new one. Another one in that

ilk is Warren Beatty, I always say. But Warren doesn't work much. Pacino is working. He just doesn't do a ton of press. In fact, he's working so much, he had two films in Toronto. You'll hear us talk a little bit about both of them. Primarily Mangalhorn, which is directed by the great David Gordon Green, as well as a film called The Humbling, directed by Barry Levinson. Pacino's still working, still loving his craft. I think he's over 70 now, but it was vital and present and in good humor, and I was so, so, so thrilled to share this time with him.

You know, you never know what you're going to get when you've never spoken to somebody, and somebody is the legend that Al Pacino is. but I think if you're a fan of his, you'll get a kick out of this conversation. We go into craft and passion for filmmaking and whether that wanes, not to mention how his kids are keeping him young and in touch with pop culture today, plus a crazy story about how the Great Alpachino could have been, would have been, maybe should have been, no, he shouldn't have been. Han Solo. He was offered the role.

Said no. You'll listen to that story if you listen to this podcast today. I want to mention a couple other brief things. If you haven't checked out last week's podcast, please do. It went up a little bit late in people's feeds because of some issues with iTunes. Not our fault this time.

Simon Pegg, great conversation talking about his very entertaining new film, Hector, and The Search for Happiness. Check that out. He is awesome. And as always, you know, me up on Twitter. We've got some really, really cool guests coming up and some exciting news, brewing for the podcast. I don't want to say too much now, but there's good stuff cooking

for the podcast in terms of who's going to be on it, how you're going to hear it, everything and anything. This is a good time for Happy Second Fuse, so I hope you guys are enjoying it. Some really exciting guests that I don't want to jinx because we haven't recorded them yet, but cool people are coming up. is a conversation recorded at a party. So audio issues, disclaimer. We shot this, we'll rather recorded this, at his premiere party for the film Mangalhorn. So what you're going to hear in the beginning is Al and I kind of talking a little bit, kind of sort of off mic even. He's, I don't think, you know, we never really officially start until a couple of minutes in. You'll

hear that too. We're talking about his film Salome. He actually directed a film. This is a film starring Jessica Chastain that he shot years ago before Jessica did all this amazing work that's since come out. He's directed a film of Salome with Jessica. He's also done a documentary about Salome in the making of it that is being featured soon in, I think, select cities. So that's what you're going to hear at the outset of this in kind of a very casual conversation and then kind of the proper interview, as it were, starts and you'll hear the audio get a bit better. So I want to warn you about that. But, enough caveats

I hope you guys enjoy this this is pure Pacino doesn't happen very often I'd be privileged if it happens again but I'll take this one for now here's a conversation with the amazing Al Pacino

I felt that the documents you didn't have the gravitas because a lot of the people watching it doesn't be context they don't have they don't know sound any of it They don't understand that Oscar Wilde wrote this. They think of Oscar Wildeism.

You know, and they're trying to figure out what is the play, you know. But once you see the full charge of the play. I remember seeing it when what Marissa was in it, right? Yeah, that was a Broadway. Yeah, I saw that one. But it's an odd play. Yeah. It's strange.

It goes in. But it's funny. When we made a film, that thing that I'm very concerned about, very interested in is getting a play and a film to merge. Right. And trying to get that. Well, something happens in the film that you have to close on it. Yeah.

Sometimes things are said in a more intimate way. Yeah. And you get a sense of the story, and she's so amazing. Have you seen a play yet, Salomey? Have you seen Jessica? I haven't seen her do it, no. I mean, I can only imagine. She's the best.

Oh, she really goes thought. That's great. Oh, sure, sure. Are you ready to do this? Is that okay? Yeah, cool. Thank you very much. All right.

Would you mind holding the microphone for us? Is that okay? Thank you much so much, sir. Venice happened a couple days ago. You've been racking up the frequent flyer miles. Yes, you bet, yes. And here we are in Toronto, we're on Anglehorn and, of course, the humbling,

a lot going on. Is this, I mean, film festivals must feel like a comfortable, fun place for you. Well, well, yeah. Yeah, it's just that having two, you know, and in Venice I had two the same day, so I had two red carpets in one day. You haven't lived until you've done that. It's very unusual. I can only imagine on my side. I'm not a big fan of the carpets.

I can only imagine from your side of things. It's a journey. Talk to me, we were talking when we sat down a little bit about David Gordon Green, who is such a phenomenal talent and brings out remarkable performances. He is. He's very special. And I feel the festival is a good place to see this film, and I think it suits it. And like I said, I don't know if you heard me, the opportunity to see a movie on a big screen. I mean, you only can go to festivals.

It's true. It's becoming a rarer sad one. It's rare and rarer, yeah. So it's nice. That's nice. Are you somebody that so goes to the theater that sees, do you enjoy seeing? films in theaters as opposed to. Well, I especially like to see him on a big screen.

It's interesting because the movie humbling that I did, I saw on a small screen two of the times, and then when we saw it on a large screen, you see more. Yeah. I mean, it's not just my failing eyes, but also you do see more. And in these kind of pictures that are sort of survived by their wits, you know. and they're nuanced sometimes. You catch it. And when you catch it, you hear an audience laugh and it's in.

Do you feel, when you read a script like this, does it have any earmarks of a first-time screenwriter, or were you shocked when you realized it was the first produced work that it would be for Mangalhorn? Which one are you talking? Mangalhorn. Well, it feels like an experiment, which is what I liked about it, and it feels like a David Gordon-Green attempt

of doing yet another. different thing and I really thought why not go with this guy and see what it's like doing this independent film? Funny because the humbling was something I had read, Philip Roth novel, and I thought gee, this is a good movie to make about an actor. You know, it's a good, the reason I felt good about it is it was what I knew, a world I knew. I grew up in the theater and it's about a

their actor going this way. So I thought that it might work. And I called Barry Levinson, who then said, you know, he really was interested in it, and we, and my take on it, too. Because I saw a lot of humor in this. You know, the idea, I think Philip Roth wrote about an actor who's sort of falling apart, really, but, and didn't, and said he can no longer act. It's almost like, it sounded like, well, I can no longer write. So it was almost like Philip Roth's point of view is coming from a writer, which is right. But actors don't have that.

Actors are not, you know, they, it's all action with actors. That's why they say action. Right. You go to it. And once, Mal and Brando said, you know, when they say action, you don't have to go. It's already happening. Yeah, it's just, it's just so, because I'm always saying action on movies. sometimes they say action before the camera's rolling.

Right. Because you've got to do movies so fast nowadays. And they really are. They should call all movies rushing. Is that a byproduct of digital cinema of working where they can just keep rolling and they don't have to worry about changing, et cetera? No, not only that, it's also money

because in the old days you did movies like humbling, et cetera, like studios did them. And you never thought about all kinds, publicity, you have to go through an order for people to be aware that you have a movie. There's 400 films in this festival. And somebody told me either they're exaggerating

but someone told me there's 400,000 submitted films. Now that's just too, that's too far. It's an embarrassment of hopefully riches. Well, one could argue, I suppose. Yeah. I don't know. Do you connect with what's playing

generally speaking nowadays? When you see what's playing the multiplex. Well, I got really, I even got on the internet on Twitter, because my young children took me to see, or I took them to see the Guardians of the Galaxy, right? And I was really impressed. I was very,

I was very, I was really impressed, especially with that 70s, have you seen it? Of course, amazing. Amazing. 70s music, it's amazing. Fantastic. And inventive, and so funny, and dark and deep. All the things, Shakespearean. I was very, very, very, so.

surprised by that. I have a feeling you're going to get a phone call from Marvel very soon. Yeah, I'm ready to go to Marvel. You've zabbled in the comic book world. Dick Tracy, I'm a big fan of. I mean, what Warren did it with that was remarkable. Oh, Warren, baby, did he sort of talked me somehow, cajoled me into doing it, charmed me, because he'd charm anyone. Yeah. And before I knew it, but it was a fun experience because there is no character of Big Boy in Dick Tracy. Right.

So you have to make a big boy. So how do you make a big boy? You make him big, and you make his hands big. That's what we thought, dude. He's someone with, I guess, elephant titis or something, and his head big, and you exaggerate it. And finally, Warren would say, I think that's coming up with the head's too big.

I mean, it's still worth that stuff. I still wish I had that big head I first got. Did you grow up with comic books? Were you like a Superman or Batman or anything? No, I was never into that. Yeah. My mother worked and took me to the movies when she'd come home from work. So four or five years old, I was seeing things like The Lost Weekend.

I don't know if you know. Ray Malay won the Oscar for it, about an alcoholic. And there was one scene where he hides the booze because he doesn't want anyone to know. And when he hides the booze, he was drunk. So now he's sober and he needs the booze, but he's forgotten where he's hit it. Sort of like when I drive somewhere in L.A. Where's the car? Where's the car?

But when I was doing it at age six, I was taking very seriously, and the adults would say, Sonny, show us the last weekend. And I would do this scene. I'd open up the closet doors. I'd be in frantic. And they would be laughing.

And I thought, what's so funny about this? It's serious. If you'll indulge me, one of those weird, like, I don't know if it's a true story or not, Is that you turned down Han Solo way back one? Is that true? Hans Solo from Star Wars, the Harrison Ford.

Oh, I hate to say that because, poor Harrison, point. I think he's doing okay. I mean, he's doing great, you know. And it was at that time in my career where, you know, it just came up. I was off at everything when at first time. It was in the Godfather, you know. I heard, yeah. They didn't care if I was right or wrong for the world.

If I could act or not act. He's in the Godfather, offer him everything. So they offered me this movie, and I remember not understanding it when I read it. So another missed opportunity. Just think of how your career. It could have worked out for you. Oh, sure, of course. You might have been a success.

I might have been Harrison Ford. That's successful. No, I think you both did just fine. He's been some great movies. Do you feel like, does the ability only get finer and more precise, and I mean, do you feel like you're the better actor than you've ever? been sitting here today. You know, it really is true that you, you know, I was

doing a whole, I was writing a whole paper on this and that, and that I've seen an actor who remained nameless, who is, who is not with us anymore, but I saw him, he passed on and I saw when he was young do a great performance in a play.

And then he became extremely famous. He was inspirational. He inspired me. I was a teenager. And that performance is on, I'll talk to you about it after. It's on Kinescope, and it's one of the great things. It's equal to when Brando did streetcar. Sure.

It has that kind of thing. Anyway, he, 30 years later, did it again. The fire was going on something. Exactly right. It was crafted, because he is a great actor, it was a great actor. And so when he did it, I thought he's doing all, bless you, he's doing all the right things, you know, except there's something and I thought what was missing

was when he was doing it when he was younger it was connected to his own life it was connected to where he was at at the time and you could feel the desperation you could feel him putting his whole soul into this role

and so you want to keep that alive and sometimes you know you need to I think there's a tendency to get too technical or learn your stuff But I think it's a good idea to look at the roles and say, do I connect to them and throw away what you've learned? I don't know that it's impossible. I don't know what I'm going to do, what I'm going to do a role.

When I'm playing a part, I don't know, it's an empty campus. So I don't know quite what's going to come out there. And I sort of prefer it that way. So when's the last time, like you were on set and you literally said to yourself or how loud, I'm lost, I don't know what I'm doing here? doing here? Oh, I've said it recently. Yeah? Yeah, I have.

I don't want to mention the picture. I don't want to mention anything, so I don't know what the city is going to be about. I'm curious, you have two teenage children. I'm wondering if they mentioned gardens of the galaxy. Do you feel like they connected to sort of pop culture nowadays? Like have you... Well, it's YouTube all of time, you know, it's YouTube all over again. It's just there it is.

It's in front of me. me. And it's, you know, things on it are just so interesting, funny. And my son is always showing me something. Yeah, it's great. And they make films, and they do it on their phone, and they're interesting, you know, and creative, and you see this stuff. And it's kind of, it's interesting. At the same time, my daughter does it, my young daughter, my oldest daughter is a filmmaker. Yeah. Yeah. She was going to be here at the festival, but she's ill in New York. But in L.A., my daughter just writes and stuff, and she's a young, and my oldest daughter and my youngest daughter are writers, and they love it. They love writing. But that doesn't

stop her for making these videos and doing all that. It's very influential what you people do here, you know. Well, it's an age where you can experiment with little cost and little cost. Exactly right. You know, Coppola once said a few years back, he said, you know, with this camcord when it started, He said, you know what we're going to do one day? We're going to find a seven-year-old girl in the Midwest, who's the next Mozart film. He saw it. He did. He saw it, yeah.

And then, oh, sure, sure. You could ask me anything. So have the kids dragged you to a Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift concert? Well, it's not yet. It's tough, you know, when we go across the street, they don't like being the attention. Right. You know, because you get the paparazzi following you. And they don't like that very much.

But they want me to get them tickets for the thing. So my daughter's got some group now. I'm sure the audience is familiar with that she wants. And I just say yes, you know. And then we're working out when we're, when we're 3,000 miles away, I just say, okay, honey, we'll work something out. We always report back to me on how the concert went. We negotiate and all this, you know.

That's it. Congratulations on two fine pieces of work. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Nice to be to you. audiences, decades, or even hundreds of years after they happened. On the infamous America podcast, you'll hear the true stories of the Salem Witch Trials and the escape attempts from Alcatraz, of bank robbers like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, of killers like Lizzie Borden and

Charles Starkweather, of mysteries like the Black Dahlia and D.B. Cooper, and of events that inspired movies like Goodfellas, Killers of the Flower Moon, Zodiac, Eight Men Out, and many more. I'm Chris Swimmer. Join me as we crisscrossed the country from the Miami Drug Wars and Dixie Mafia in the South, to mobsters in Chicago and New York, to arsonists, kidnappers, and killers in California, to unsolved mysteries in the heartland and in remote corners of Alaska. Every episode features narrative writing and cinematic music, and there are hundreds of episodes available to binge. Find Infamous America, wherever you get your podcasts.