The movie that sent Al Pacino into Hollywood exile: “I lost interest for a while”
Even the biggest stars in Hollywood have found themselves disillusioned by the industry at times, and it’s not hard to see why. Few jobs leave someone open to such widespread public scrutiny, and when an actor is just trying their best, being met with a hostile reaction must surely take its toll. This was once the case for Al Pacino, who temporarily exiled himself from Hollywood after an extremely disappointing reaction to a film.
The actor had enjoyed an incredibly successful decade in the 1970s, rising to prominence with his role as Michael Corleone in The Godfather. His performance earned him his first Oscar nomination, something he would practically come to collect over the coming years, although he wouldn’t win until 1993 for Scent of a Woman. Pacino then starred in the likes of Serpico, The Godfather Part II, and Dog Day Afternoon, cementing himself as one of the era’s most unforgettable faces.
His success continued into the early 1980s with an incredible performance as Tony Montana in Scarface, but his next project fared much differently. He was cast in Hugh Hudson’s Revolution, released in 1985, which also starred Nastassja Kinski and Donald Sutherland, and while the movie had potential with its strong cast and epic American Revolutionary War setting, it was universally panned.
The issue with the film came down to the studio’s insistence that it be released as fast as possible to tap into the Christmas market, but this only resulted in the movie simply not being ready. Critics hated the film, and Pacino was incredibly disappointed with the reaction, deciding to step away from movies for four years.
“Revolution was one of those things that happen in a career, where you learn so much from it because it was such a disorienting experience,” he once explained (via The Independent). “I expected they would have worked on that film, but they just let it go. They put half a film out. I was appalled and shocked by that. I didn’t know what to do. It was that single film that took the rug out from under me. I lost interest for a while.”
It wasn’t until 1989’s Sea of Love that Pacino decided to return to the big screen. In the meantime, he appeared in two plays, National Anthems and Julius Caesar, both in 1988, clearly unable to shake the acting bug completely. However, he placed Hollywood on the back burner for a while, allowing himself to take time away from disastrous productions and widespread criticism. Sea of Love ended up grossing $110.9 million against a $19 million budget, renewing his faith in cinema. The film was also reviewed fairly well, too, although it certainly hasn’t endured like other projects he appeared in a few years later.
Luckily for Pacino, more successes came in the following years with Dick Tracy, Frankie and Johnny, and Scent of a Woman, which finally landed him a much-deserved Oscar. He continued to enjoy a run of popular movies for the rest of the decade (and beyond), proving that he just needed a little time away to get back on his feet.
