Al Pacino » (Reprint)

Lawrence Grobel is the New York Times bestselling coauthor with Montel Williams of Climbing Higher, as well as the author of the national bestseller Conversations with Capote and Conversations with Brando. A contributing editor at Playboy and Movieline's Hollywood Life, he has written for the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Details, Entertainment Weekly, and many others. The winner of a PEN Special Achievement Award, he is also the author of The Art of the Interview. He teaches at UCLA.

For more than a quarter century, Al Pacino has spoken freely and deeply with acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Lawrence Grobel on subjects as diverse as childhood, acting, and fatherhood. Here, for the first time, are the complete conversations and shared observations between the actor and the writer; the result is an intimate and revealing look at one of the most accomplished, and private, artists in the world.

Pacino grew up sharing a three-room apartment in the Bronx with nine people in what he describes as his "New York Huckleberry Finn" childhood. Raised mostly by his grandparents and his mother, Pacino began drinking at age thirteen. Shortly after he was admitted to the renowned High School for Performing Arts, his classmates nicknamed him "Marlon," after Marlon Brando, even though Pacino didn't know who Brando was. Renowned acting coach Charlie Laughton saw Pacino when he was nineteen in the stairwell of a Bronx tenement, and the first words out of Laughton's mouth were "You are going to be a star." And so began a fabled, lifelong friendship that nurtured Al through years of not knowing where his next meal would come from until finally — at age twenty-six — he landed his first salaried acting job.

Grobel and Pacino leave few stones unturned, touching on the times when Pacino played piano in jazz clubs until four a.m. before showing up on the set of Scarecrow a few hours later for a full day's work; when he ate Valium like candy at the Academy Awards; and when he realized he had been in a long pattern of work and drink.

As the pivotal character in The Godfather trilogy and the cult classic Scarface, Pacino has enshrined himself in filmhistory. He's worked with most of Hollywood's brightest luminaries such as Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet, Michael Mann, Norman Jewison, Brian De Palma, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Sean Penn, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank, and Robin Williams, among many others. He was nominated for eight Academy Awards before winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Scent of a Woman. Pacino still seems to prefer his work onstage to film and, if he's moved by a script or play, is quick to take parts in independent productions.

Al Pacino is an intensely personal window into the life of an artist concerned more with the process of his art than with the fruits of his labor, a creative genius at the peak of his artistic powers who, after all these years, still longs to grow and learn more about his craft. And, for now, it's as close to a memoir as we're likely to get.

Library Journal

Al Pacino has been one of America's most versatile and dynamic actors for more than 35 years. In 1979, journalist Grobel (Conversations with Brando) began interviewing the reclusive Pacino while in turn becoming his personal friend, and now he presents a collection of their past interactions, which appear uncut here for the first time. The book almost serves as an autobiography of Pacino as he discusses his early life, family, first acting jobs, and craft. In talking about his theater career, defining roles in The Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon, and Serpico, and later work in Looking for Richard, the actor demonstrates an intense commitment to and a profound love of his work. What emerges is the intellect, skill, and passion of a man who conveys these very traits on the stage and on screen. Grobel's interviews offer a unique portrait of a man at the forefront of late 20th- and early 21st-century American cinema. Highly recommended for larger public libraries and for libraries with collections on film and popular culture.-Jim Collins, Morristown-Morris Twp. P.L., NJ Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Foreword   Al Pacino     xiii
Introduction     xvii
1979: Getting to Know You     1
1983: The Death of an Actor and the Birth of a Cult Character     81
1990: The Return of Michael Corleone     104
1996: Looking for Al     113
1998: The Censure of the Which     139
2001: The Night Pacino Came to Class     148
2002: Al's Calling     157
2004: The Operative Word, Dear Shylock, Is Sober     169
2005: "You Can't Do Gone with the Wind with a New York Accent"     186
Epilogue: To Bee or Not to Be     225
A Last Word     231
The Films     237
The Plays     239
Acknowledgments     241
Index     242