Henry Rollins required Al Pacino’s approval for the role in ‘Heat’
Henry Rollins, the artistically mercurial frontman of the 1980s punk band Black Flag, has looked to focus on his acting career in recent years. Despite his early rise in music, Rollins starred in his first movie, Kiss Napoleon Goodbye, in 1990, maintaining a prolific filmography through the decade with The Chase and Bad Boys II among his big-hitters.
In 1995, the Black Flag singer landed a role alongside Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer and Al Pacino in Michael Mann’s classic movie Heat. Even though Mann hired him for the part, Rollins has revealed in a new interview with The Guardian that Al Pacino was the man he really needed to impress.
“Michael Mann said, ‘Your character has scenes with Al Pacino, but if Al doesn’t like you, you can’t be in the movie. So we’re going to have lunch to see if he likes you,'” Mann explained. “I’m like, ‘Uh? When?’ He goes, ‘We’re leaving now.’ We walked out with my jaw on the floor and went to some high-class Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills.”
“At the end of the lunch, he goes, ‘Michael, I like him,'” Rollins continued, “He was hilarious to be around. There’s one scene where I’m handcuffed, so Al would sit on a couch and keep me company while I was being unlocked. ‘Someone give me a magic marker. I’m gonna draw a moustache on Henry.’ When you’re getting razzed by Al Pacino, how bad is your day?”
Fortunately for Rollins, Emperor Pacino’s thumb pointed skywards, and with that valuable endorsement, he stepped into a lucrative acting career. Most recently, Rollins appeared in Sia’s 2021 musical Music.
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