Method Acting Madness: why Al Pacino pretended to be blind on ‘Scent of a Woman’
Legendary careers aren’t always measured by how full any actor’s trophy cabinet is when they step away from the spotlight, but it’s nonetheless ironic that Al Pacino finally ended up winning the big one for a performance that had many branding him as an undeserving winner.
It can’t be argued that the veteran has given some of cinema’s greatest-ever performances in classics, including The Godfather trilogy, Dog Day Afternoon, and Serpico. However, his long-awaited Academy Award victory ended up leading to accusations that it was more of a lifetime achievement award than the best on-camera work of the preceding 12 months.
That sounds harsh, and Pacino is undeniably excellent in Martin Brest’s Scent of a Woman. Still, it’s hard to say with any degree of certainty he was better than Denzel Washington’s incredible work in Malcolm X, or even vastly superior to the performances of Chaplin‘s Robert Downey Jr, The Crying Game‘s Stephen Rea, or Unforgiven‘s Clint Eastwood.
Looking back, it’s one of the most stacked ‘Best Actor’ races in recent memory, but Pacino ended up taking home the gold on what was his eighth nomination in total. As one of the most famed practitioners of the method technique, it was inevitable that the leading man would go to the requisite lengths to embody Frank Slade, and he once again went all-in.
Before shooting, Pacino met with New York’s Associated Blind organisation, which helped him understand what it felt like to process the trauma of gradually having their eyesight taken away. Another group also helped him get into character by showing him how a blind person would perform tasks that formed the backbone of their everyday life, including finding and sitting in an available chair, pouring a drink, and even lighting a cigar.
Treating it as a linear process allowed Pacino to work through the various stages of Slade’s arc, from bitterness and regret to acceptance that this is the way he lives his life and discovery of the happiness therein. However, despite contact lenses being made that would present the appearance of blindness, he opted not to use them.
Instead, Pacino did what all method men do and simply opted to remain completely in character for every moment that he was on set. He decided to intentionally keep his eyes out of focus, walked with a cane, and avoided direct eye contact with the cast and crew members. However, the downside was that his preference to maintain character at all times caused him to fall into a bush, scratch his cornea, and experience short-term temporary blindness of his own.
Co-star Chris O’Donnell even revealed that he thought Pacino was ignoring him and avoiding the opportunity to give the rising star some much-desired feedback, but once production wrapped, the star wrote him a letter informing him that he “couldn’t tell what you were doing because I sort of never saw you”. He was suitably impressed after the fact, though, even if it would have ruined his immersion to say it at the time.
