#255 | Another Celebrity Memoir? I Know, But It’s Al Pacino—The Godfather, Scarface, Scent of a Woman, Heat—Al Pacino!
Quick SUMMARY:
Douglas Vigliotti examines Al Pacino’s 2024 memoir "Sonny Boy." Douglas discusses Pacino’s life, career, and the personal insights revealed in the book, emphasizing the difference between the artist and the man. He highlights themes of loneliness, artistic struggle, and vulnerability, sharing memorable quotes and reflections from Pacino on life, acting, and his iconic career. Douglas also encourages men to embrace reading and offers a thoughtful look at Pacino’s journey and the universal challenges faced by artists and men alike.
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TOPICS COVERED IN the EPISODE:
Introduction & Book Plug (00:09) - Douglas introduces the episode, mentions "Sonny Boy" by Al Pacino, and plugs his own book "Aristotle for Novelists."
Al Pacino’s Career Overview (01:16) - Overview of Al Pacino’s film and stage career, highlighting his major roles and Oscar history.
Artist vs. The Man (02:31) - Discussion on the difference between Al Pacino’s public persona and his real personality.
Celebrity Memoir Caveats (03:52) - Douglas discusses the nature of celebrity memoirs and the importance of reading them with a critical eye.
Godfather & Movie Anecdotes (05:07) - Stories from "The Godfather" and other films, including behind-the-scenes details and Pacino’s casting.
Heat & Character Insights (06:06) - Insights into Pacino’s character in "Heat," including cut scenes and character motivations.
Personal Struggles & Loneliness (07:25) - Pacino’s personal struggles with loneliness, anxiety, and feeling like an outsider, as revealed in the memoir.
Artist’s Duality & Takeaways (09:51) - Reflection on the difference between Pacino’s characters and his real self, emphasizing the theme of artist vs. art.
Favorite Quotes & Themes (11:09) - Douglas shares and discusses his favorite quotes from the memoir, focusing on solitude, reading, intuition, and artistic delusion.
Aging & Life’s Shrinking Options (13:55) - Pacino’s reflections on aging, dwindling opportunities, and the universal experience of life narrowing with time.
Closing & Podcast Information (15:04) - Douglas wraps up, encourages subscribing, shares contact info, and provides links for further engagement.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome back to “Books for Men”, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week we are moving back into a work of nonfiction. It is a memoir. Another celebrity memoir. I figured that we would continue on that trend for this month since I shared “I Am Brian Wilson” a couple of weeks ago, and today's book is titled “Sonny Boy” by Al Pacino, and it's around 380 pages or so. It came out just a year ago, in 2024, and I will get into a lot more about it. And the man, of course, and what is in this book, and some of the key quotes that I have from the book and all of that good stuff. But first, as always, I just wanted to remind you about my new book that is out, “Aristotle for Novelists: 14 Timeless Principles on the Art of Story”. And if you are a novelist or an aspiring novelist or a storyteller of any kind. So on the page, on the screen, or in your life, perhaps because we're all telling a story in some kind, then I think you will get a lot out of this book.
01:16 - And if you are interested in learning more about it, then all you have to do is visit the website AristotleforNovelists.com. All right, so Al Pacino is a man, an actor who needs no introduction, really. He's been in so many classic films, from “The Godfather” to “Serpico” to “Dog Day Afternoon”, “Glengarry Glen Ross”, “Scarface”, “Donnie Brasco”, “Carlito's Way”, one of my favorites of all time, “Heat,” which I sort of did an episode on when I covered the sequel to heat, “Heat 2”, which was pretty interesting, and I'll link that in the show notes. And then, of course, there's “Scent of a Woman”, where he finally took home an Oscar for Best Actor. I think he was nominated 5 or 6 times, something like that, for Best Actor, and that was his only win, although I think he had a lot more nods, just not in the Best Actor category. But anyway, the list of movies is endless, and I think most people don't realize that he was a dramatic stage actor doing Off-Broadway and eventually Broadway long before he was this intense, powerful leading man in all of those mega flicks in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and early 2000.
02:31 - You know, it's funny, I'll be honest, in saying that I was never a huge Al Pacino fan, but this book did shed light on not just him, but so many of the movies that I love, and also more broadly, the life of an artist. And that's mostly why I wanted to share this with you, because I think it highlights a huge thing that is unseen for most fans or people in general, and that is the artist and the man are not one in the same, and to me, nothing is more of an example of that than Pacino, the man and his screen presence or his most powerful roles. Because in reality, they couldn't be more different. So now let me turn to the book. Most obviously, it's about the life of Al Pacino. More importantly, it's through Al Pacino's eyes, and it's ghostwritten by David Itzkoff, which is similar to most celebrity memoirs. This is something I've talked quite a bit about on the podcast before. It's a genre that always comes with a huge caveat, not because they aren't true, but because it's important to remember that the story that is on the page is the one that the celebrity wants to tell.
03:52 - And when you're dealing with a megastar, there is always a high possibility that they want that story written for all of eternity in a very specific way, to, of course, project a certain picture or image. This is just something that I always like to keep in mind when I am reading this type of book. It doesn't demean the work; it's just something that I have in the back of my mind when I'm reading it. But there's always a grain of salt, whether it's a biography or a documentary, and you're dealing with the biographer or filmmaker's point of view on the subject, or the subject matter’s own like in this case. Having said that, I think this memoir is relatively safe and recycles many stories from “The Godfather”, which we already knew via now the widespread coverage of the making of that movie, stuff like Francis Ford Coppola wanted him and the studios didn't, and it was a fight until they shot the hinge moment of the movie for both him in the actual film and the film itself, which is a pretty interesting tidbit.
05:07 - That iconic scene where Michael Corleone caps the police officer or chief and the mob boss in the restaurant. I actually covered this when I did the novel The Godfather. On this podcast, I'll link to that episode in the show notes as well. Of course, I love hearing or re-hearing stories from the movies I love, but there was a lot of stuff that I didn't know about Pacino, as I alluded to earlier in the show, like when they offered him Han Solo, I imagine that that would have been pretty funny. Or even about heat, which again, as I mentioned, was one of my favorite movies. I learned a lot about that character that I didn't know, which was really fun. He writes later on in the book about Vincent Hanna, who was the main character. He says, “He was also chipping cocaine, and I sort of based my entire character on that. We shot a scene where I went into a club, and you actually saw my character taking a hit of coke before he enters.
06:06 - For some reason, Michael,” and he's talking about Michael Mann, the filmmaker of the movie, “kept that scene out of the film. It did explain a lot of my character's behavior, and without that explanation, I could see how it made aspects of my performance seem extravagant.” I thought that was pretty interesting because that character is very overblown and high-strung, and the fact that Pacino played him as if he were a cocaine user, and the fact that it never visually made its way into the film. I see that character in a completely different light now, and it explains a lot of the choices that he made with the character. Also, because I'm such a “Heat” fan. The classic scene in the diner where Robert De Niro and Al Pacino finally come face to face On the big screen, which is sort of this huge cinematic moment, was pretty much its first and only take, or at least according to Al Pacino in the book he writes: “When it came time to shoot the restaurant scene. Bob didn't want to rehearse it, and I thought he was right. We got there and we just started. We didn't think about it, talk it over or anything. There it was.”
07:39 - And again, for a heat fan like myself, that was a really interesting tidbit. He does dish on other filmmakers, many of whom I like a lot, whether it's Sidney Lumet, Brian De Palma, or David Mamet. But to me, like most memoirs, the better parts are when Pacino chooses to get more personal, whether it be his struggle with loneliness, alcohol, money problems, growing up fatherless, to that part about loneliness and disenchantment. He has this part when he's talking about “The Godfather” and his almost relief of not having to do the picture anymore and potentially being kicked off. He writes, “I lay there thinking, this is a miracle. Oh God, you're saving me. I don't have to do this picture anymore. I was shocked by the feeling of relief that passed over me, showing up for work every day, feeling unwanted, feeling like an underling was an oppressive experience in this injury. It could be my release from that prison. At least now they could fire me, recast another actor as Michael, and not lose every dime they already put into the picture.”
08:57 - Or when he had a lot of success with the picture. And he was living in Manhattan in this little apartment, and he wrote, “I was dealing with tremendous anxiety nerves, and I had a lot of trouble with drinking and all of it with me alone in a small apartment. I started to wonder, do I deserve this great gift of celebrity that's been given to me? Where is the acceptance in all of this? How do you live with the feeling that you don't fit in with other people, when you already feel like you don't fit in with yourself?” And again, it's these moments when he's talking about his feelings and how he felt, whether they reflect kindly on him or not. Those are the best moments of this book, just as they are with most memoirs. The ability to dig deeper, and it doesn't happen all the time in this book.
09:51 - Although I will say he does a good job at offering his opinion on a plethora of topics. Again, it's that angle that sheds light on the man, highlighting the big reason why I wanted to share this book with you. Artists are not their art, and if anything, this book is a testament to the power of acting because a lot of those characters, in all of their bravado, whether it's Tony Montana or Vincent Hanna or Michael Corleone or Richard Roma, they all have a confidence and a swagger to them that the man Al Pacino just didn't have. He seemed to be an introverted, shy, and insecure, in many ways, individual. I mean, we're talking about a guy who was nominated for Best Actor for the Academy Awards, and because of his own fear, he didn't show up. So there's definitely something more interesting happening inside that man. All right. So I think I've shared enough on the book and the author and probably some takeaways already. Let me close this out by sharing some of my favorite quotes from the book.
11:09 - And the first one comes very early on, and he writes, “Sometimes being content in your solitude can be a mixed blessing, especially to other people you share your life with.” I love this because it shows the duality of being independent or being okay with yourself. It's the good and the bad. And I loved that quote for sharing that. Another one that I loved is when he talks quite a bit about reading at the beginning of the book, and he says, “I started reading Chekhov myself, carrying his books around with me. Amazed at the idea that I could have his writing whenever I wanted it. Chekhov became a friend of mine.” I think this is a great example of what books can do for you. There's an intimacy with them, and I know from my personal experience I could relate. Some of my favorite authors almost feel like friends, even though I have never met them a day in my life. There's another quote that I love when he says, “Your intuition should not be swayed by the audience, but by your own imagination and your willingness to go into yourself and express what's there.”
12:27 - So many great artists are similar in that they don't pay attention to the audience at all, which is something contradictory to what the commercial side of the business would want to preach to you as a creator, and that is to consider your fans. Consider your reader, consider the audience. In some respect. They can be a good indicator for a lot of things, but mostly if you're trying to create something that is true and honest, then that could also be a death knell nail for you as an artist. Another quote that I love is a short one where he says, “It's one thing to think it, but how do you tell anyone that you're destined to be successful? Who would believe you?” I love it because it showcases the delusion of an artist at an early stage in their career, and I do believe that you do need delusion if you want to be successful in any of the creative arts. It's something that I've found as a pretty common thread reading through many of these stories, and the reason for that is simple: you will not be able to deal with all of the rejection and pain that comes with the path of being a self-sustaining artist.
13:55 - And lastly, I will wrap this up with a quote that he ends the book with. And it's about the dwindling of time and the reduction of options. This quote really puts it into perspective. He writes, “It's time for my afternoon walk around the block. They say it's good exercise, and I should be getting more exercise at my age. So I put on my sunglasses and I plug in a pair of earphones. I'm dressed in a big old overcoat and I've got white hair all over my face. I'm walking the streets like I'm a polar bear and it's getting warmer. I'm an endangered species. I'm at risk of extinction. I'm walking around thinking about what I could do next. My world is closing in on me. The options are becoming fewer and fewer.” It's a bit of a sad quote and the episode with. But it's an important reminder that if life shrinks for Al Pacino, it probably will shrink for us as well. All right, so that's all I've got. I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
15:04 - If you did, I want to remind you to please click subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on, because in doing so, that's how new listeners find the show, and we inspire more men to read. If you want to tell me what you thought about this episode or the podcast more broadly, there are two ways you can reach out to me: either on Instagram @DouglasVigliotti. It's the only social media that I have or via my website DouglasVigliotti.com. As I mentioned at the top of this episode, I have a new book out. It is titled “Aristotle for Novelists,” and if you want to find out more information about that, you can visit the website AristotleforNovelists.com. All of these links will be in the show notes. Last but not least, I wanted to thank you so much for listening. And if you want more information on this podcast specifically, which includes signing up for the monthly newsletter, then all you have to do is head to the website BooksforMen.org.
