The only one of his movies that moved Al Pacino to tears: “It caught me off guard”
Making a film is a rather mechanical process, the whole thing broken down into chunks and slowly built into a finished form.
Many actors thus feel detached from the emotional aspect of what they’re working on, so used to rehearsing their lines and witnessing a scene constantly changing with each take, but when a film features a really emotionally poignant moment, even some of the greatest Hollywood stars break under the weight of their feelings, becoming overwhelmed by the beauty of the script.
Despite an actor knowing that what they’re working on is a piece of fiction, movies are reflections of life, and sometimes a theme just hits too close to home.
Oscar-winning icon Al Pacino certainly isn’t immune to getting emotional over a part, although it took many decades of being an accomplished actor before one of his own films left him crying, proving that, for years, he had just gotten on with the work required of him, even when he played tragic figures or tapped into a more emotional part.
In 2015, though, a script finally left him feeling fragile, when he took on the part of the titular ageing musician Danny Collins, who is unable to shake the lifestyle he led back in the ‘70s, but after he finds his son is ill, makes it his mission to stop wasting away, throwing himself back into maintaining his family, romance and songwriting career.
The film finds him reconnecting with his son, whom he never got to watch grow up because he was too busy living a hedonistic life, changing his ways with the help of his manager, played by Christopher Plummer. With stars like Annette Bening and Jennifer Garner appearing alongside him, Pacino turned in an incredible performance that feels rather underrated in the grand scheme of his career, and earned himself a well-deserved Golden Globe shout.
Maybe he resonated with the story, which was written and directed by Dan Fogelman, in some way, because for the first time, he was left with a slightly damp eye, telling We Are Movie Geeks, “I went home and cried. This one touched me. This one touched me in a way, without giving the film away, that these two men have met, this parent and a child, in this kind of way, not really knowing each other, and somehow it shed light on that moment.”
The emphasis on family and connection that the film championed really resonated with Pacino, who added, “It just brought it to me, boom!, it just hit me. I don’t know how you felt about it, but I know it caught me off guard. I didn’t cry, but I did tear up. I welled up. It made me feel something. It really made me feel.”
When an actor finds a script that moves them, it’s best that they keep hold of it, because it’s probably something special and worthwhile, and Pacino really cherished Danny Collins, which was the first time he had been physically brought to tears by one of his own projects.
