The performance that made Al Pacino a lifelong John Goodman fan: “One of our greatest actors”
Most actors are fans of John Goodman, mainly because game recognises game. As one of the industry’s most dependable character men, he’s spent the last four decades delivering accomplished performances in almost every genre under the sun.
However, one particular turn caught Al Pacino’s eye and convinced him that Goodman was worthy of being elevated into the pantheon of modern greats. While there’s nothing wrong with one legend celebrating another, history indicates that Goodman wouldn’t necessarily agree.
Of course, if Pacino says somebody is among the best of the best, then who’s to argue? He knows what it takes to rise to the top of the business, bask in the warm glow of critical acclaim and awards season recognition, and no list of Hollywood’s all-time finest thespians is complete if he isn’t on it.
While it’s true that Pacino’s form has become increasingly erratic, a lot of which can be attributed to the sheer volume of paycheque gigs he slummed his way through in the last two decades after going broke, he’s still the guy who staggered audiences in the Godfather trilogy, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, and countless more.
As for Goodman? He’s never even sniffed an Academy Award nomination, although it’s fair to call him one of the best that’s never been shortlisted for an Oscar. Most of his awards have come from television, but he’s the kind of performer viewers know will bring their A-game, regardless of what he’s appearing in.
In the early 2000s, Pacino singled out the four actors he loved to watch above all others, and Goodman was the only one in the quartet who didn’t have at least one Oscar to their name. “I saw John Goodman in The Babe recently: he’s one of our greatest actors,” he said. “I like Tom Hanks: if he’s in a movie, I’ll go see it. Same with John Goodman. He and De Niro are great actors.”
Ben Kingsley was the fourth and final name on Pacino’s must-watch list, but it’s curious that Arthur Hiller’s 1992 sports biopic turned him into a diehard Goodman fan. The most obvious reason, besides the film being resoundingly mediocre, is that the leading man actively regretted his turn as the titular baseball legend and wished that he could do the whole thing over again.
Goodman admitted that “there’s a lot of things about my performance that bothered me,” and at no point did he ever believe he’d nailed it. Still, Pacino clearly thinks otherwise, with that outing enough to convince him that not only is the Coen brothers regular one of cinema’s modern greats, but he needed to see everything he starred in from then on.
Marlon Brando might be the actor he worships the most, but Goodman would no doubt be thrilled to discover that Pacino holds him in such high esteem.
