Why does William Friedkin hate Al Pacino?
Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. Francis Ford Coppola and Marlon Brando. Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson. When iconic filmmakers find their best collaborators, the finest cinematic duos can be formed, but this isn’t the case for each and every pairing. William Friedkin, the influential filmmaker behind 1973’s The Exorcist and 1977’s Sorcerer, was pretty notorious for his venomous relationships with his actors.
One such relationship was formed during the making of the crime movie The French Connection in 1971, where Friedkin butted heads with Gene Hackman, who struggled with his complex performance, despite eventually winning ‘Best Leading Actor’ for his magnificent part in the film. He wasn’t the only one either, with Friedkin causing chaos on the set of The Exorcist, making enemies with the likes of Ellen Burstyn and Jason Miller with his demanding demeanour.
Still, none of these actors left such a negative impression on Friedkin than the iconic Hollywood star Al Pacino, who worked with the filmmaker on the 1980 movie Cruising, which follows the story of an NYPD detective who goes undercover in the underground S&M gay subculture of the city in order to find a serial killer.
Asking a lot of Pacino during the making of the movie, Freadkin butted heads with the actor on several occasions. When asked about Pacino’s experience making the movie in an interview about Cruising, Friedkin stated: “I don’t give a flying fuck into a rolling donut about what Al Pacino thinks, is that an answer to your question?”
Continuing, he adds: “I mean, I could be sitting here for an hour and try and explain it, but that’s a fact…I cared a lot, for example, about what Tommy Lee Jones thought because this guy was a brilliant professional, prepared actor, and he would think about his character more than the director, more than me, he would come to the set with absolutely brilliant ideas, and I don’t feel the same about Pacino.”
Friedkin has spoken on several occasions about his relationship with Pacino, even writing in his memoir about their tumultuous collaboration.
In an interview with The Wrap shortly after the release of his memoir, the director said of Pacino, “I have not seen him a lot. We never moved in the same circles. I wanted Richard Gere for the role. Having seen the film at special screenings, I’ve come to realise [Pacino] is still pretty damn effective in it, but he gave me a rough time for reasons other than the normal actor-director relationship. He wasn’t on time and often didn’t know what we were doing on a particular day.”
The movie was accused of being homophobic upon its release in 1980, with members of New York City’s gay community protesting against the film. Members of the community were urged to disrupt filming by ruining the lighting of scenes, blaring whistles and air horns near the filming location and much more.
