Why Al Pacino “didn’t want” Michelle Pfeiffer in ‘Scarface’
More than 40 years after the release of the crime classic, Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer both attended the 96th Academy Awards, sending fans of Scarface into a frenzy in the process, as lovers of the movie swelled with the anticipation of seeing the duo back together.
One of the most iconic movies of the 1980s, Brian De Palma’s drug-addled ode to the dark side of the American Dream marked one of Pfeiffer’s first major roles in a motion picture, but she wasn’t always convinced that Pacino wanted her in the cast.
Although the former’s Elvira Hancock serves as the primary love interest of the latter’s Tony Montana once she manages to extricate herself from the clutches of Robert Loggia’s Frank Lopez, Pfeiffer was riddled with doubts and insecurities at the prospect of sharing the screen with a heavyweight like Pacino.
In fact, Pacino wasn’t the only opponent of Pfeiffer’s potential casting, with De Palma also being unconvinced that she had the chops to pull off a part that was initially earmarked for powerful Glenn Close. In the end, it was producer Martin Bregman who fought her corner despite the resistance he faced.
“Michelle Pfeiffer, that was a battle because of everybody in town was going out for that,” he said. “In spite of what Al said before, he was a star at the time. Michelle wasn’t known at the time.” Pacino echoed that belief too, explaining that Bergman “had that sense about her” and pushed for her hiring, even though the leading man “probably would have said no.”
Pfeiffer confirmed that her opposite number wasn’t too enthralled at having a relatively unknown performer play such an important role in a splashy starring vehicle. By the time she’d gone through the lengthy audition process, she was beginning to feel frightened that she’d let herself – and by extension Scarface as a whole – down.
“He was probably more intense back then, or I think it was maybe the nature of the project, and he didn’t particularly want me for the part,” Pfeiffer acknowledged. “It was a very long and drawn-out audition process. I don’t know it seemed like forever but I think it was about two or three months. And I was terrified and I was really young, and I knew he didn’t want me, and as it went on, the worse I got because I just got so afraid.”
Of course, it worked out incredibly well for all parties in the end after Pacino gave one of the definitive performances of his career, Pfeiffer’s star rose to another level. In contrast, Scarface ended up as a box office hit that spawned some of the most indelible iconography the gangster genre has ever had to offer, not a bad return for a central pairing who weren’t entirely convinced they’d be able to anchor the film.
