Al Pacino’s acting on set is so subtle it’s practically undetectable to the human eye, says Christopher Nolan
Oppenheimer lead Cillian Murphy has a similar subtlety in his acting to Al Pacino, Christopher Nolan claims
Aux News Christopher Nolan
Al Pacino is somewhat stereotypically known for yelling in movies, but he did not become regarded as one of our finest living actors on increased decibels alone. No, his range is so great that he is also capable of doing work so quiet, so subtle, that his director may not even notice it’s happening. So says Christopher Nolan, who directed Pacino in Insomnia, in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times.
“I had gone up to Pacino after a series of takes and given him a note on what I wanted,” Nolan tells the outlet. “He told me, ‘I’ve already done that. You can’t see it to the eye, but I’ve done it on the dailies.’ I looked for it and I was like, ‘Oh, my God,’ because there it was.”
There’s a reason Nolan is telling this story while promoting Oppenheimer: Cillian Murphy shares Pacino’s prowess. His performance of the father of the atom bomb “became all-enveloping, when I realized Cillian had so much more going on than I saw on set,” Nolan reports. “Great film actors can do that, and that’s what I had with Cillian.”
The director may not have noticed every nuance of Murphy’s performance on set, but he made sure the audience would be able to see it all by shooting for IMAX. “We associate IMAX with giant landscapes, but here Hoyte [van Hoytema, cinematographer] is shooting faces, eyes, something deceptively simple. Whatever Cillian is feeling, thinking, it opens it to the audience,” Nolan gushes.
Murphy seemingly won’t be able to promote the movie himself anymore (due to the SAG-AFTRA strike), but Nolan will happily promote Murphy himself. The filmmaker calls his star “one of the best actors of his generation,” adding, “I’ve never seen an actor with such a commitment to the truth. But I’d never had him as the lead, so it was a thrill to be able to call him and say, ‘This is the one.’”
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“HOOO-AAAAAAAAAH!”
Nanny fricking boo boo.
GIMME ALL YOU GOT!
ABSENTEE LAAANDLOOOAHD
RockHard always gotta a massive LOOOAHD for da woketards
I remember hearing similar anecdotes about Gary Cooper and Spencer Tracey as well. Directors and co-stars would act on set and get the feeling they were very overrated actors because they seemed to be doing ‘nothing’. But somehow they were doing exactly what it took for the camera to see what they were putting out there. Weird cinematic magic.
It’s a testament to the ‘Less is more’ concept.
Al Pacino is one of our greatest living actors and watching so much of his work is truly a master class in subtle acting.But in his later years, it’s hard not to also think he’s very keen on the more is more approach to acting – at least post-Scent of a Woman.
Much like DeNiro, his late-career work has been uneven, but I thought his work in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was really good.
My favorite example of the ‘Full Al Pacino Experience’ is The Devil’s Advocate. He does plenty of subtle stuff, but then suddenly the scenery is a pit bull’s favorite chew toy.
There’s a story of the very theatrical Kirk Douglas, in an early film role, trying to out underplay Robert Mitchum in Out of the Past and it driving Director Jacques Tourneur crazy on set.
This is so ironic, in that I just watched that movie (again) this week! And I always marvel at how low key Douglas is when he’s usually swinging for the fences. I wondered ‘how did the director keep him so subdued?’ HAHA!
I remember Pauline Kael in her review of There Was a Crooked Man faulting the movie for giving Kirk Douglas red hair “like he wasn’t already flamboyant enough”
I remember Pauline Kael in her review of There Was a Crooked Man faulting the movie for giving Kirk Douglas red hair “like he wasn’t already flamboyant enough”
Yes! It is a kind of magic. It’s also a simple matter of ‘location’. Stage acting requires magnified (or exaggerated) movements, speech and facial expression in order for the audience to get all of that information. Cinema, on the other hand, is voyeuristic. The camera is an invisble presence where you can also be. You can be next to a character’s shoulder, at their feet, above their head or even inside their head. We are basically overhearing, in a very intimate way, everything the director wants us to hear (see). That’s why stage acting looks to silly on film. I’m sure you’ve seen films where the actors/directors didn’t get that and it looks bad. Subtlety is key and even the slightest change in facial expression can tell volumes. It’s a fascinating subject.
Older Al Pacino plays every role the same. You hire Pacino you get Pacino being himself.
Damn straight. No one plays Al Pacino like Al Pacino!
Al Pacino is…..Al Pacino?
I just hope Pacino has the acting chops to convey the subtle pain of when Kevin had learned of his dogs death.
My friend worked on the Pacino film, Sea of Love, years ago. He said when they shot close-ups, Pacino would ask the director to shoot them two or three times so he could alter what he did with his eyes to convey slightly different emotions. This is not common practice. Many actors can barely manage one emotion.
It is totally common practice to try different takes doing different things. It is totally common practice to convey slightly different emotions.
I feel the same way about William Shatner.
Captain Smirk?
“Al Pacino is somewhat stereotypically known for yelling in movies,…”Now that’s a great hook and I was hooked. “When hasn’t he yelled?” I wondered. I immediately thought of Insomina and it’s true. He doesn’t yell much – unlike me. I haven’t slept in five months and that will maker you very hollery. Anyway, I needed to know more and I found it. If you have extra time on your hands (no new writing and acting) and need some amusement, check out Brian Vanhooker’s Ranking Every Al Pacino Movie By How Loudly He Yells. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/al-pacino-yelling-movies-ranked This a labor of love. Vanhooker devises an Al Pacino Scream -O- Meter (or Pacinometer) and takes us through 55 films, ranking the quality and volume level of Pacino’s temperamental performaces. Complete with video embeds. Reminds me somewhat of the old AVClub days. Enjoy.
“I had gone up to Pacino after a series of takes and given him a note on what I wanted,” Nolan tells the outlet. “He told me, ‘I’ve already done that. You can’t see it to the eye, but I’ve done it on the dailies.’ I looked for it and I was like, ‘Oh, my God,’ because there it was.”The thing he wanted: for Pacino to hang dong.
When Nolan had trouble telling the female lead he wanted her to be fully nude, it was Pacino who helped communicate what Nolan wanted by saying “He wants to see your HOO-HA!”
But can Pacino do Blue Steel?
This is just weirdly… I don’t know, something.Yes, Pacino is a good actor. Is someone questioning that?Phrasing things that “He was asked to do something. He said he did it, but it was not visible to the ‘human eye’. Director used his human eye and saw the unseeable.I’m… words fail. I get that there’s a writer’s strike going on, but could SOMEONE brush shit like that up?
50% of the success of people like Nolan is to make sure he’s approachable and seems ok to work with to giant stars who can easily say no, and by extension letting producers know that big actors want to work with him. New movie pressers involve a lot of brownnosing about how all these big stars are geniuses. Nolan is pretty good at the over-the-top compliments game. Its just clearly disingenuous fluff.Obviously, we’ll never know his real opinion because this PR only exists in a marketing context to maximize earnings, as per the “box office above all” capitalism that Hollywood exists in. Shrug, its always been like this I suppose. Its just with 24/7 news and social media, we get closer to it and start to see how fake and marketing orientated most celeb personalities are because that’s how they got and remain successful.
Reminds me of Nerdwriter’s breakdown of Anthony Hopkins in Westworld. Kicks off at the minute mark
Film Acting IS Faces & Eyes, A Clenched Jaw Muscle, A Twitch Can Nail An Emotion.