The only film Al Pacino was ashamed of

When the script for a dark and menacing thriller came to Pacino in the late ’70s, he must have thought he was on the right track. After all, the storyline would bring audiences into a world few people had experienced. It was about a detective infiltrating New York’s gay leather bar community to find a serial killer targeting gay men on the fringes of society. Pacino felt the script expressed real insight and asked uncomfortable questions. In truth, at that time, Pacino wanted to push the boundaries with some of his films, and Cruise do the trick.

The idea of ​​working with William Friedkin, the famous director of The Exorcist And The French connectionalso appealed to Pacino. But to his surprise and horror, the project quickly turned into a nightmare. Pacino and Friedkin didn’t agree on anything, and the film became a lightning rod for controversy within the gay community. Throughout the summer of 1979, the film’s production sparked protests from activists who felt it would harm mainstream society’s perception of gay men. Indeed, the noise made by protesters was so loud and persistent that the audio had to be entirely redubbed in many places.

Pacino was surprised by the controversy, not least because he did not consider the film an achievement at the time it was filmed. After seeing a clip of the film, he began to question whether the protesters were right, and today he feels he was not as sensitive to their concerns as he could have been.

The concerned star adopted a policy of remaining silent and refusing to give press interviews for Cruisebut then the producers made him an offer. They begged him to make at least a few small comments – if only to make it seem like he hadn’t entirely disowned the photo – and he reluctantly agreed. In his memoirs Sonny boyPacino confessed, “They had paid me a lot of money and I wasn’t going to abandon them. But I wanted to go somewhere far from the madness. I had had enough.

Ultimately, although Pacino did not publicly speak out against the film following its controversy, he attempted to covertly repair the community he now felt he had exploited. He revealed: “I never accepted the paycheck from Cruise. I took the money – and it was a lot – and put it in an irrevocable trust fund, meaning that once I gave it away, there was no longer any possibility of resuming it.

This money was distributed to various charities and, thanks to the interest involved in the trust fund, it continued to be paid out for two decades. Pacino never received any publicity for his action, but that’s exactly what he made clear. The last thing the regretful star wanted was to turn her attempted repair into a publicity stunt.

The remorseful star reflected: “I don’t know if it eased my conscience, but at least the money did some good.” I just wanted one positive thing to come out of this whole experience.

In subsequent years, Friedkin has also reflected on the legacy of what he calls a harsh and cut-throat image. He said The wrap in 2013, “It wasn’t the best step forward for the gay rights movement, but I never intended the film to be critical of gay people. I just thought the S&M world would make a good backdrop for a murder mystery, but I in no way wanted it to reflect the gay lifestyle.

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