From Detroit News, October 17, 1997

"Pacino looked for inspiration to play the devil"

By By Joshua Mooney/ Entertainment News Wire

NEW YORK - There's a scene in The Devil's Advocate where New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato and boxing promoter Don King, playing themselves, shake hands with Satan. Given the wisecracks in some circles that D'Amato and King are already in league with the Prince of Darkness, one wonders if they were in on the joke.

"I don't lie to people," says director Taylor Hackford. "But you can't underestimate the power of saying to someone, 'You're going to act in a scene with Al Pacino.' "

Such is the unholy allure of the Oscar-winning Pacino, a man who's been pretty much a legend since his star turn 25 years ago as Michael Corleone in The Godfather.

In The Devil's Advocate Pacino pulls out all the stops in his fevered portrayal of New York attorney John Milton, aka Satan. In person he comes across as a fairly down-to-earth guy: shy, polite and good-natured. Not exactly the force of nature he often plays on screen.

Clad in a leather coat, black shirt, black pants and a crimson tie (a bit of a campy Satanic outfit), the notoriously press-shy Pacino takes his seat before the reporters gathered at a Midtown Manhattan hotel and asks, "Dare I smoke? I have these sort of ... health cigarettes."

Lighting up an herbal cigarette, he warns, "They smell a little like grass, but no." Never at ease with the interview process, Pacino allows that he smokes whenever he's "a little nervous."

The most intriguing aspect of his role in the film, Pacino says, was "Where do you start? He's the devil."

However challenging it may be for the devil to contemplate inhabiting the soul of Al Pacino, the actor himself took his preparation for his role seriously - to a point.

He read all the right books: Dante's Inferno, Milton's Paradise Lost. He looked at the history of actors who played the devil, including Walter Huston's memorable performance in the 1941 classic The Devil and Daniel Webster.

"You're looking for a way to give yourself some credibility," Pacino says, "so those things helped."

Ultimately, though, playing the devil was a liberating experience, because there's a lot of room for an actor to maneuver.

"How are you gonna be judged?" Pacino asks. "Are they gonna say, 'The devil didn't really do that'? Anything goes, really."