Al Pacino is one of the most loved actors. Whether it is now or decades prior, his era was one that no one wanted to see end; luckily it hasn’t. Even with his experience, he was one who never shied away from taking risks, this included working on Seprico. The movie was based on a real-life incident and was unlike any other cop movie.
This was something he understood only after taking on the script. When he was first approached for the role, Pacino did not think it would be anything unlike the usual. He turned out to be wrong. The film revolved around a whistleblower who was out to expose the corruption within the New York City Police Department and it immediately intrigued him, convincing him to sign up for it.
Al Pacino’s Director For Serpico Forced Detective To Leave The Set
Al Pacino, when working towards making Serpico, decided to spend some time with the inspiration of the movie, the real Frank Serpico. He had a wonderful time with him but one particular scene made things rather rocky between Serpico and the director. Pacino was to shoot a scene where his character would be shot in the face and the director did not find it fitting to keep Serpico in the same room at that time.
“‘You know, Al, don’t get too close to him. Because he’s going.’ And Al said, ‘What do you think?’ I said — ‘you’re going to get whacked, with him watching from the sidelines?’ And of course, he saw the point of that. And when I told Frank, I said, ‘Frank, I can’t have you there during the shooting, or the rehearsals. It would just make everybody, including Al, so self-conscious.’ And I broke his heart. He walked away. He hasn’t talked to me since.”
He asked the respected detective to leave the shoot because of how self-conscious and distracted everyone would be if he were there during that scene. Frank Serpico hated the idea and was extremely heartbroken, so much so that he never contacted director Sidney Lumet ever again.
Al Pacino Spent Time With Frank Serpico
Al Pacino got to spend a good amount of time with Frank Serpico when he was working on the movie. He took his time to understand who the man really was and motivated him. He was struck with motivation himself when he learned of such a wonderful person. However, Sidney Lumet warned him to stay away and not get too close to him.
“We were sitting there looking at the water. And I thought, well I might as well be like everybody and ask a silly question, which was, ‘Why Frank? Why did you do it?’ He said, ‘Well, Al, I don’t know. I guess I have to say it would be because … if I didn’t, who would I be when I listened to a piece of music?’ I mean, what a way of putting it! That’s the kind of guy he was. I enjoyed being with him. There was mischief in his eyes.”
He admired Serpico as a friend and loved spending time with him. Unfortunately, he knew it was not something he could carry on for.
Source: Cinephilia and Beyond
