Renowned actor Al Pacino surprised attendees at the National Auditorium in Mexico City during an event organized for young scholarship recipients of the Telmex and Carlos Slim foundations.
According to various media reports in September 2015, the interpreter of classics such as The Godfather and Scarface displayed erratic and chaotic behavior, which left both the audience and journalist Larry King, who was in charge of interviewing him, perplexed.
The event also featured speakers such as businessman Carlos Slim Helú, the treasurer of the United States Rosie Ríos, and Olympic medalist Michael Phelps, but Al Pacino stood out from the rest for his incoherent responses.
According to various sources, for a period of approximately 20 minutes, the actor answered incoherently to Larry King’s questions, who tried to keep the conversation in order, but Al Pacino gave a series of disconcerting answers and seemed to jump from one topic to another without a clear thread, which generated confusion among the thousands of attendees, mostly young interns invited to the event.
Among the most striking statements of the night, Pacino confessed to having rejected the leading role in the iconic science fiction saga Star Wars. “Harrison Ford owes me his career; I’m joking. If I rejected Star Wars it was because I didn’t understand the script, that’s it,” said the actor, according to various media.
Al Pacino also explained that he even consulted a friend, Charlie, who also failed to understand the script, which is why he decided to reject it. “I said: ‘Are they going to make a movie from this script?’ And I didn’t accept it. Yes, it was a mistake. I don’t regret it, I have nothing to regret, I never do. I made mistakes, but I don’t regret anything,” he added, laughing.
The famous actor also shared details about his personal life and his professional career, saying that his approach to acting was encouraged by his mother, who took him to the movies when he was a child.
Coming from a humble background and without having completed formal studies, he found in acting a way to overcome his shyness and express himself. “I was shy and didn’t know how to speak in front of people, but with the scripts I had the words to do it and then they became part of me,” he explained.
He also emphasized that acting had a transformative impact on his life and even stated that it saved him from a tragic fate, since all his close friends from childhood and youth died due to drug use.
Regarding cinema, Al Pacino stressed the importance of directors in the creation of films, stating that they are the ones who leave their personal mark on the works. However, according to a note from La Jornada, when he was asked for his opinion on Mexican filmmakers, he limited himself to calling them “wonderful” without going into depth on the subject.
The event that promised to be an intimate and enriching conversation with one of the most iconic figures in cinema, left many attendees with mixed feelings due to his unpredictable behavior.
Despite this, the anecdotes and reflections on his career and personal life offered a unique view of the trajectory of one of the most influential actors in Hollywood, but Al Pacino’s participation in the National Auditorium will also be remembered for his unexpected statements and for the mix of humor, nostalgia and chaos that marked his interaction with the public and Larry King.
The message he conveyed in front of Larry King
After answering the journalist in a confusing manner and disconcerting the attendees, the interpreter of Tony Montana suddenly stood up on stage and apologized in front of the public. The American journalist remained seated at the back and the actor said: “You must be tired but I think it is time to end this and apologize.”
After mentioning that “I didn’t even want to go on the trip,” he again baffled the audience, as he confessed, laughing, that he was acting and that he was only reprising the role of a drunk from the play The Iceman Cometh, by the American writer Eugene O’Neill.
According to La Jornada, the actor explained that he wanted to show the interns that “they must eliminate the guilt they feel and that makes them hide behind dreams of tomorrow, because there is no tomorrow.”
Source: infobae
