When Al Pacino says no to Christopher Nolan in the middle of filming, it gives a fascinating anecdote about how the legendary actor plays…
When you’re a famous actor, you can afford to do it your way – especially when you’re right! During an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Nolan indeed recalled a little anecdote that took place on the set of their thriller Insomnia in 2002, a particular moment when Al Pacino stood up to him…
I went to Pacino after a series of takes and gave him a note on what I wanted. He said, ‘I’ve done it before. You can’t see it like that, but it’s on the rushes.’ I looked around and I was like, ‘Oh, my God’, because it was there. Great movie actors can do that, and that’s what I had with Cillian [Murphy].
Christopher Nolan also spoke about his latest project, the highly anticipated Oppenheimer, and reflected on his 25+ year career, saying: “All the films I’ve made, in one way or another, are film noir. These are all stories of consequences. And with Oppenheimer, the consequences are the quickest to arrive and the most extreme.”
As a reminder, insomnia is the remake of a 1997 Norwegian film of the same name and the filmmaker’s directorial debut for Warner Bros. – studio with whom he will have a long relationship. The feature film features Al Pacino as a detective investigating the murder of a teenage girl in Alaska. He gives the reply to Robin Williams, playing a detective writer involved in the murder.
AL PACINO’S GAME
And it doesn’t seem that approachingAl Pacino in acting has changed over his half-century filmography. In 2018, Christopher Nolan interviewed the actor and asked him how he managed to balance script-based discipline with emotional spontaneity.
Al Pacino then replied:It depends on the scenario, but you have to rehearse. In fact, the weirder, the more you rehearse, the more spontaneous you become. It’s the opposite of what people think. Actors who aren’t used to rehearsals will say, ‘I want to be spontaneous when it comes.’ And that’s how they make most movies now. There is no rehearsal time. In rehearsal you can do different things.”
Find Insomnia on VOD before the release of Oppenheimer in theaters this July 19.