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Film credit

Al Pacino

Also referred to as Pacino

Stats

Episodes featuring their films
16
Movies in this archive
17

Rewatchables episodes featuring Al Pacino’s films

The Godfather Part II

1974 film

Bill Simmons · Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan · Brian Koppelman

Aired December 17, 2019

The Godfather

1972 film

Bill Simmons · Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan

Aired January 8, 2019

Heat

1995 film

Bill Simmons · Chris Ryan

Aired August 7, 2017

Displaying episodes 13 - 16 of 16 in total

Mentioned in discussions

Heat The Rewatchables
Heat

Most Rewatchable Scene

The heists, diner encounters, crew debate and final handclasp

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:20Read transcript
  • The first armored-car robbery and Big Boy diner confrontation establish a ruthless crew — Michael Mann
  • Mann says Kevin Gage encouraged actual head contact in the diner scene — Michael Mann
  • Eady’s expression and Neil moving a seat closer make their first encounter compelling — Michael Mann
  • Tom Sizemore’s commitment in the heist debate is a standout — Michael Mann
  • Mann explains that the transmission-station location would interfere with surveillance bugs — Michael Mann
  • The Pacino/De Niro diner meeting is the central acting showcase — Michael Mann
  • Mann filmed both leads together using three cameras; he rejects the body-double rumor — Michael Mann
  • Neutral restaurant colors and tight reverse angles foreground the faces — Michael Mann
  • Mann avoided emotional rehearsal to preserve discovery during filming — Michael Mann
  • Chris Ryan singles out Hanna’s vulnerability disarming Neil — Michael Mann
  • The bank shootout preserves clear spatial geography — Michael Mann
  • Mann describes precise range mockups and actor training with SAS advisers — Michael Mann
  • The final handclasp was settled before the rest of the narrative was reverse-engineered — Michael Mann
  • Moby’s closing cue was selected during editing; Goldenthal and Lisa Gerrard are also discussed — Michael Mann
The Departed The Rewatchables
The Departed

Casting What-Ifs

Brad Pitt as Sullivan; Al Pacino as Costello; Ray Liotta or Denis Leary as Dignam; Mel Gibson as Ellerby; Robert De Niro as Queenan

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:42Read transcript
  • The casting what-ifs are called probably the best for any movie they have done, a whole alternate Departed. — Bill Simmons
  • Pitt bought the producing rights, planned to play the Damon part, then decided he might be too old and went to do Babel. — Bill Simmons
  • Debate over Pitt: good instincts about roles and a great producer, but miscast himself in Meet Joe Black and The Devil's Own; Damon was the better choice.
  • Scorsese wanted Al Pacino for Costello; Pacino turned it down and Nicholson was the second choice. — Bill Simmons
  • Ray Leota was the original choice for Dignam but declined over other commitments, his 2006 films including Comeback Season, Local Color and Even Money. — Bill Simmons
  • Dennis Leary was the second choice for Dignam but had to make season three of "rest of me" (as transcribed); he would have been great, though Walberg is perfect. — Bill Simmons
  • Ellerby was offered to Mel Gibson, who was starting Apocalypto; Queenan was supposed to be De Niro, who made The Good Shepherd; the Anthony Anderson role was meant for "the Rizza" (transcript form, unresolved), who was too old or had conflicts. — Bill Simmons
  • Leo was in The Good Shepherd but dropped out to play Billy Costigan, and Damon then took The Good Shepherd role; The Good Shepherd is called an unexamined movie with a dynamite cast.
  • The alternate cast (Leo, Pitt, Pacino, Leota, De Niro, Mel Gibson and the Riza) is called pretty loaded and preferred by one participant; Pacino would lose Costello's lumbering physicality but gain CR doing Pacino.
  • Would-you-rathers: Walberg over Ray Leota, Baldwin over Mel Gibson 100 out of 100 times, and De Niro over Sheen since he can underplay.
Independence Day The Rewatchables
Independence Day

Recasting Couch

Christopher Lloyd, Dennis Hopper or Al Pacino as the Area 51 doctor; Demi Moore or Sharon Stone for Mary McDonnell's role; Martin Lawrence for Connick

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:22Read transcript
Thief The Rewatchables
Thief

Half-Assed Internet Research

Real crooks and Gunsite training; Howard Johnson's booth; real burglary tools; water truck for wet streets; Green Mill's Capone booth; unused source book; Belushi's squibs; Tuesday Weld's Wikipedia

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:14Read transcript
  • The actors hung out with real crooks, and Mann took Caan to the Gunsite firearms academy in Arizona, which is why his house raid looks realistic. — Bill Simmons
  • Per Alan Siegel's research, Mann took his future wife to that Howard Johnson's in 1971 and they talked all night in the booth used for the scene; they are still married 50 years later. — Bill Simmons
  • The burglary tools were real, and the actors were trained to use them. — Bill Simmons
  • A 60,000-gallon water truck kept the streets wet, a Mann staple he may have invented, though Scorsese did some of it in Taxi Driver. — Bill Simmons
  • Mann tells an anecdote about driving around looking at bridges and water before he was a filmmaker; the urban landscape colliding with nature, rain and neon are his signatures, as in Collateral. — Sean Fennessey
  • The Green Mill jazz club in Uptown was an Al Capone hangout, and the scene was shot in Capone's booth, where he could see the whole club. — Bill Simmons
  • The film is based on a book that was optioned, but Mann did not really use it. — Bill Simmons
  • Belushi begged to do his own death scene and absorbed dozens of squib shots. — Bill Simmons
  • Tuesday Weld's Wikipedia page is recommended: between marriages she dated Al Pacino, David Steinberg, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Omar Sharif, Richard Gere and Ryan O'Neal, and Baryshnikov's previous girlfriend Jessica Lange was her best friend. — Bill Simmons
The Royal Tenenbaums The Rewatchables
The Royal Tenenbaums

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:26Read transcript
  • Ben Stiller is the initial and final winner. — Andy Greenwald
  • Gwyneth Paltrow is proposed as an alternate because she makes an active choice in every moment, even while doing very little. — Andy Greenwald
  • The participants clarify that Paltrow's nomination is praise, using Al Pacino's Vincent Hanna as the category's positive model. — Chris Ryan
  • Anderson's centered compositions, limited close-ups, and concern for movement constrain conventional overacting. — Andy Greenwald
  • Stiller operates at a different frequency from the rest of the cast but makes that intensity work.
  • The board-game-closet confrontation with Hackman is the main example of Stiller pushing the performance.
The Bourne Identity The Rewatchables
The Bourne Identity

Recasting Couch

Cole Hauser or Casey Affleck in Clive Owen’s role; Amy Adams or the transcript-observed “Chloe 70” in Julia Stiles’s role; Al Pacino as Conklin

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:36Read transcript
The Exorcist The Rewatchables
The Exorcist

Recasting Couch

No necessary recast; Jane Fonda and early Al Pacino considered

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:39Read transcript
  • The cast is largely left intact, perhaps except Burke; Fonda’s actress-as-actress casting is considered too self-conscious. — Bill Simmons
  • Early Godfather/Serpico-era Pacino as the priest is considered intriguing and prompts impressions. — Bill Simmons
  • The panel distinguishes early Pacino from the later persona and calls the proposed performance fascinating. — Bill Simmons
The Game The Rewatchables
The Game

Recasting Couch

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:45Read transcript
Se7en The Rewatchables
Se7en

Casting What-Ifs

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:14Read transcript
  • Washington reportedly rejected Mills as too dark and later regretted it. — Bill Simmons
  • The Stallone claim is doubted; Duvall and Hackman are reported Somerset alternatives, and Pacino reportedly chose City Hall.
  • Kilmer as John Doe is enthusiastically imagined after a reported rejection; a Chechik directing attachment is questioned. — Bill Simmons
  • The claim that del Toro rejected the film as too dark is treated skeptically. — Bill Simmons
The Usual Suspects The Rewatchables
The Usual Suspects

Casting What-Ifs

Declined first choice for McManus; Chris Walken or Bob De Niro in Palminteri's role; Al Pacino

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:57Read transcript
  • Baldwin was the second choice for McManus; the first choice, Michael Biehn, reportedly turned it down and later called it a huge mistake. — Bill Simmons
  • With Biehn it would be a less funny movie, though one host has always loved him. — Chris Ryan
  • The script went to everybody in town; Palminteri's role was offered to Chris Walken and Bob De Niro, and Walken is imagined as Kobayashi or Redfoot. — Bill Simmons
  • Al Pacino came in to read, which the hosts find suspicious. — Bill Simmons
  • Singer and McQuarrie sent Spacey the script without saying which role was his; he assumed Palminteri's or Byrne's part, but it was written with him in mind for Verbal. — Bill Simmons
  • The hosts say Redfoot was offered to a list including Walken, Tommy Lee Jones, Bridges, Charlie Sheen, Spader, Pacino and Johnny Cash before Peter Greene got it, adding "who knows if it's true". — Bill Simmons
  • Byrne, dealing with personal problems, backed out for 24 hours until the filmmakers agreed to shoot in LA, where he lived, in five weeks. — Bill Simmons
  • A joke proposes making Redfoot the Voight character from Heat to connect the universes. — Chris Ryan
Back to the Future The Rewatchables
Back to the Future

Casting What-Ifs

John Lithgow and other alternate casting history

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:57Read transcript
  • John Lithgow is reported as the first choice for Doc Brown and is judged plausible — Bill Simmons
  • J.J. Cohen was reportedly moved from Biff to a cohort because he was not imposing enough opposite Stoltz — Bill Simmons
  • Melora Hardin was reportedly released as Jennifer after Fox replaced Stoltz because of their height difference — Bill Simmons
  • An Al Pacino Doc Brown is performed as a comic hypothetical rather than reported casting — Bill Simmons
Displaying discussions 85 - 96 of 137 in total

Films in the archive

...And Justice for All

1979

Any Given Sunday

1999

Cruising

1980

Donnie Brasco

1997

Glengarry Glen Ross

1992

Heat

1995

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

2019

Scarface

1983

Scent of a Woman

1992

Sea of Love

1989

The Devil’s Advocate

1997

The Godfather

1972