I picked the wrong movie, or I didn’t pursue a character, but everything you do is part of you and you get something from it.
AL PACINO[Oscar Wilde’s Salome screenplay] is not autobiographical in a sense where you go to my house and see my kids and stuff like that, but that’s why I guess it’s semi-autobiographical.
More Al Pacino Quotes
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It would be hard to play a character you don’t like – for me anyway – or can’t find something in them to like.
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There’s something to learn from it. I’ve had movies that have failed colossally, so you kind of analyze your failures.
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The play will invariably be different and stronger, and much more fulfilling and richer on all counts. There’s no doubt in my mind about it.
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I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. I just had a kind of energy, I was a fairly happy kid.
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We’re charlatans in a way, we’re magic people. Part of the behind the scenes stuff is to loosen you up, to make you feel that you are experiencing this. This is my style.
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I understand it on a superficial level, but the depth of it just boggles my mind. I think it’s probably the greatest of all speeches ever written.
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[Ocean’s Thirteen] is a great group, and it was an opportunity to work with Steven Soderbergh. But mainly? It was shot in L.A. and I want to be next to my kids.
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I was never very happy with performing; it didn’t turn me on much.
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I went to Performing Arts because that was the only school that would accept me. My scholastic level was not very high.
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Women have always had equal importance onstage, and working with them must have altered my sensibilities.
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It wasn’t until I got older that I realized acting was something I could really do.
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The literal, basic thing of the stage is really like a magnet. It brings me back to earth.
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You try to maintain a neutral approach to your work, and not be too hard on yourself.
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I was watching Revolution, and the things I did in that picture, holy smokes! I can’t believe I did that, it’s like another person. It’s the thought of it, it’s just appalling to me.
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Early on in my career, I remember running – fleeing – to the theater as a way of coping with all the meshugaas that was going on for me.
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I used to say I wanted to genuflect to a woman, put her up on a pedestal higher and higher, way up beyond my grasp…Then I’d find another one.
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I’m expressing something that I feel is a way to exercise my talent and help communicate a role as a human being in a movie, I will do that.
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That’s the way to live – around people who care. It may be a tough ride, but something is going to come out of it.
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On any given Sunday you’re gonna win or you’re gonna lose. The point is — can you win or lose like a man?
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What’s this thing that gets between us and Shakespeare?
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The thing is doing it, that’s what it’s all about. Not in the results of it. After all what is a risk? It’s a risk not to take risks. Otherwise, you can go stale and repeat yourself.
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I have a life and do a lot of things, and so far my work has been my life.
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I once asked my oldest daughter [Julia Marie] if she thought about changing her name in school and she said, “No, I’m a Pacino. That’s my name.”
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So that you and the audience are giving to each other, in a sense. It’s an extraordinary thing. It’s wild turf up there.
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I always had this thing, when I was younger especially, I didn’t want to do movies that much.
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People are always asking me to do Shakespeare – at home, at colleges, on film locations, in restaurants. It’s like playing a piece of music, getting all the notes. It’s great therapy.
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