The director Al Pacino found extraordinary: “It’s like a temple he’s creating”
Being one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema generally means that elite-level directors will be queuing up at the door offering parts, which inevitably put Al Pacino into the path of some legendary auteurs spanning multiple generations.
Not that he was an instant icon, of course, but performers singled out as among their generation’s finest who continually justify the hype have a habit of going on to enjoy decades of success. For Pacino, it was the 1970s when he first rose to the top, and he’s been constantly in demand ever since.
In that ten-year period alone, Pacino earned five Academy Award nominations, won a Bafta from three nods, and scooped a solitary Golden Globe from six nominations, lending his talents to a series of acclaimed and award-winning masterpieces that included The Godfather and its sequel, the undervalued Scarecrow, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon.
His directors during that period included Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet, Sydney Pollack, and Norman Jewison, so he was racking up mercurial auteurs like it was nobody’s business. That continued well beyond the end of the ’70s, of course, with Pacino working under some of Hollywood’s most esteemed megaphone wielders.
Brian De Palma, Chariots of Fire‘s Hugh Hudson, Michael Mann, Oliver Stone, Christopher Nolan, Andrew Niccol, Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorsese are just a few of them, an astonishing collection of filmmakers befitting Pacino’s position as one of the all-time greats.
However, he reserved special praise for a maverick he only worked with once and on a highly controversial picture at that. Already a ‘Best Director’ winner by that point, The French Connection and The Exorcist had elevated William Friedkin into the elite bracket of behind-the-camera talents, but their collaboration on Cruising opened the door to plenty of backlash.
The 1980 serial killer thriller saw Pacino’s undercover cop infiltrating New York’s gay scene to try and root out a murderer, with the production beset by protests by the LGBTQ+ community. Both star and director denied there was any prejudice in their storytelling, with the leading man comparing Friedkin’s process to the construction of a spiritual hub.
“There’s a power to it, a certain theatricality, no doubt about that,” Pacino admitted to Playboy of Cruising taking place in a heightened reality. “I sensed it when I read it, and I can feel it while we’re shooting it.” The discontent was in full voice at the time, with the film in the midst of production, but he quickly diverted the conversation in the direction of the person steering the ship.
“I hope Billy’s energy comes off on the screen,” he said. “It’s extraordinary to be around him. It’s like a temple he’s creating, and it lifts you. He’s a lot like Coppola in that way.” Earning comparisons to the brains behind The Godfather was par for the course for Friedkin and not underserved, either, with the two emerging as ‘New Hollywood’ leading lights around the same time and earning the respect and admiration of Pacino into the bargain.
