In the ’70s he didn’t see himself as the best candidate for the role, but when he saw the finished film he realized he should have done it.
Nine times nominated for an Oscar – and winner of the award in 1993 for his work in Scent of a Woman – veteran performer Al Pacino has so many masterpieces in his career that it is difficult to think that he could have anything to regret. However, although the actor’s career goes down in history for his unforgettable works in films such as The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola, Dog Day Afternoon by Sidney Lumet or Dick Tracy by Warren Beatty to name just a few of the most famous, The reality is that Pacino would have liked a specific film to be part of his list of hits, but when he had the opportunity to play it he did not consider himself suitable for the role.
Probably every Hollywood star can immediately name at least one professional decision that he has bitterly regretted for years: either for having opted for a film that later turned out to be a failure or, conversely, for not having accepted a project. which later turned out to be a masterpiece.
And an icon like Al Pacino is no exception.
Although it is fair to say that the 84-year-old actor has achieved everything that could be achieved in the film industry and, the most difficult thing, staying in the business for more than half a century, he has also faced important challenges, since , especially in his heyday in the 1970s, had to prevail against a whole host of other top actors. Some as great as Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood and Dustin Hoffman, who were then competing for the same roles.
Precisely the last of those mentioned, Dustin Hoffman, took the role that Pacino remembers with the greatest frustration: the interpreter was chosen to play the famous comedian Lenny Bruce in the film Lenny, a biopic that was nominated six times for an Oscar – including Best film and Best director – and which had first been offered to the Serpico actor.
Director Bob Fosse initially offered the film to Pacino, but he turned it down. Decades later, the actor admitted in an interview with Larry King in 2010 that he had greatly regretted that. Although he did not clearly mention the movie, there was no doubt that he was referring to Lenny:
I don’t want to embarrass anyone, that’s the problem. When I first read it, I was like, ‘No, I’m not right for it.’ But then when I saw it and when I saw someone doing something in a club, I suddenly saw what I wanted to do with this role.
Without specifically naming the film, Pacino admitted that “it was a great performance by Dustin Hoffman,” admitting to realizing he was wrong to say no after seeing the finished film.
The film, released in 1974, is available in the Filmin catalogue.
