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Simon Spotlight
September 2006
On Sale: August 29, 2006
288 pages
ISBN: 1416912118
EAN: 9781416912118
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
For more than a quarter century, Al Pacino has spoken freely
and deeply with acclaimed journalist and bestselling author
Lawrence Grobel on subjects as diverse as childhood, acting,
and fatherhood. Here, for the first time, are the complete
conversations and shared observations between the actor and
the writer; the result is an intimate and revealing look at
one of the most accomplished, and private, artists in the world. Pacino grew up sharing a three-room apartment in the Bronx
with nine people in what he describes as his "New York
Huckleberry Finn" childhood. Raised mostly by his
grandparents and his mother, Pacino began drinking at age
thirteen. Shortly after he was admitted to the renowned High
School for Performing Arts, his classmates nicknamed him
"Marlon," after Marlon Brando, even though Pacino didn't
know who Brando was. Renowned acting coach Charlie Laughton
saw Pacino when he was nineteen in the stairwell of a Bronx
tenement, and the first words out of Laughton's mouth were
"You are going to be a star." And so began a fabled,
lifelong friendship that nurtured Al through years of not
knowing where his next meal would come from until finally --
at age twenty-six -- he landed his first salaried acting job. Grobel and Pacino leave few stones unturned, touching on the
times when Pacino played piano in jazz clubs until four a.m.
before showing up on the set of Scarecrow a few hours later
for a full day's work; when he ate Valium like candy at the
Academy Awards; and when he realized he had been in a long
pattern of work and drink. As the pivotal character in The Godfather trilogy and the
cult classic Scarface, Pacino has enshrined himself in film
history. He's worked with most of Hollywood's brightest
luminaries such as Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet,
Michael Mann, Norman Jewison, Brian De Palma, Marlon Brando,
Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Sean Penn, Johnny Depp,
Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank, and Robin Williams, among
many others. He was nominated for eight Academy Awards
before winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in
Scent of a Woman. Pacino still seems to prefer his work
onstage to film and, if he's moved by a script or play, is
quick to take parts in independent productions. Al Pacino is an intensely personal window into the life of
an artist concerned more with the process of his art than
with the fruits of his labor, a creative genius at the peak
of his artistic powers who, after all these years, still
longs to grow and learn more about his craft. And, for now,
it's as close to a memoir as we're likely to get.
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