(Televised interview)

(BARBARA WALTERS NARRATION) In the case of Al Pacino, I think I just wore him down. We met on two different occasions, over cappuccino, to discuss the possibility of sitting down together. Sound glamorous? Well at first it was work. He felt uncomfortable with the idea of someone asking him almost any question. And I couldn't change, because how else do you do an interview? What did change was that over those coffees we got to know each other. And that made all the difference. He was born Alfredo James Pacino in 1940. His parents divorced when he was 2yrs old. Al was raised by his mother and grandparents in the South Bronx. He had 2 passions, baseball and acting. In 1966 he was accepted by Lee Strasberg's famed Actor's Studio in New York. He studied and worked his way up doing off-Broadway shows and small TV and movie roles. He often played seedy street types. And eventually, landed the part of Michael Corleone in the 'Godfather'. Two sequels and 2 Oscar nominations later, it is one of the defining roles of his career. Pacino has also been nominated for other fine roles, including his 1973 performance as an undercover cop in 'Serpico'. And his intense "strung out" characterization of a bank robber in 'Dog Day Afternoon'. But, not unfortunately for the role, he told us, he is most proud of...a Cuban drug-lord in 'Scarface'.

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INTERVIEW

BW When you were 8 or 9 in the South Bronx, where kids in your neighborhood were not coming out and doing repertoire...as kids don't. You knew then that you wanted to be an actor?

AL It was something that I just did. It was as though I ...I had the kind of ah...When I was very young my mother took me to the movies, cause she worked, and the only time she get to see the movies and me was when she came home from work. So we would go to the movies. So I was watching films. And...I would act out the parts. I remember, I would come home...this is interesting to think of it now. I'd come home. I'd always make an entrance at night from playing. And I come, usually it was a 'dying' entrance. I'd come in and 'die' all the way to the kitchen and I'd 'die'. And one day we were on a fire escape and I was twirling around...and I landed on my head. And I got up. And of course my friend was laughing. And he looked blurry to me, and I wondered over to him...he was still laughing, and ah, I guess it was a funny site seeing me fall from the 1st floor on my head, on concrete. I staggered, I am staggering home and guess what? I go in my apartment, and I fall down. Only, I really fell this time, my mother. I had a concussion. They thought I was kidding. I had a concussion...the doctor came.

BW But when you look back...do you look back with a smile?

AL I do.

BW for you a relatively very happy

AL I am very happy it happened, it happened, it's helped me through out my life.

BW What sense?

AL Well I mean relationships, then. I had very close friends growing up.

BW So you weren't what they'd call a loner?

AL No...no I wasn't a loner, No.

BW But when your mother died, when you were in your early 20s was that...I mean it's hard for anyone, was it terribly hard for you?

AL Oh yeh, because my mother was so encouraging to me, and I think that's why I am here. My mother encouraged me. And I realized that later on in life. And, yeh that's what my mother gave me. And I miss...I missed it, that she didn't see me accomplish...even a minor of success would have meant a lot to her and my grandfather too, who raised me. He didn't see it.

BW He died when you were 11?

AL Yeah, so the 2 closest people died within a year of each other. I wished...I wished they'd seen it. It would have meant something to me

BW When you did the Godfather, you're 31 years old, you were a stage actor and suddenly this enormous thing. Yeh, But Al when you had that fame and success instead of it being wonderful, it wasn't, those years after. What happened?

AL It's a relative thing, fame. And it works on different people differently. And what happened was interesting. And how it worked on me was...I...I started to, I didn't talk the way I usually talk. And I realized people were receptive to me. And I hadn't earned it. I had done nothing to earn their laughs, or their interest or anything. And it felt kinda cool to just sit there and not have to earn it. And I think that's a trap you can fall into with fame. Because life is people, being with people, interchanging with people, that's what life is. When you're famous, sometimes, that part of you can get cut off. And I'll tell you how. Because, you don't employ the stuff that makes you what you are, because you don't have to. And so, I fell victim to that a little bit. But I am aware of it.

BW You had a whole series of successful films and then for something like 5 years, in the 80s, you didn't make any films. Were you turning down roles, in that time?

AL Yeh, I was.

BW What did you turn down? Wallstreet?

AL I turned down a few films.

BW Wallstreet?

AL Yeh, Wallstreet was one of them. And the thing was, I found that as I just dropped out I was able to find myself missing a little bit more in life. I can't explain it, I just became more involved in things, and you know...if you're gone, if you're not around you start to recede...and people do sort of...

BW people began to forget

AL Yeh, some how I felt freer. I started rubbing shoulders with people again and getting involved, in a way I remembered years ago. I had a guy say to me, the other day, "you know who you are?"

BW What did you say?

AL I said, ah that's why I act, I don't know. (laughs)

BW Are you sorry you didn't do 'Pretty Woman'?

AL No

BW Are you sorry you didn't do 'Absence of Malice'?

AL No

BW Are you sorry for any film you made?

AL Yeh, sometimes you make a film, and you know, you know when you're making it that you're just making a mistake.

BW Did you want to do Godfather 2?

AL Well no, I don't think I did.

BW Did you want to do 'Godfather 3'?

AL Yeh, I thought it would be interesting to go back and do 3. 2 I didn't want to do. It was right on the heels of 1. And I thought, you know, it's a tough repeat. I tell you the thing is, you..you, ah, sometimes make movies for a lot of different reasons. Places in your life, you never know where you are. You're like in a certain state, you change. Things happen to us all the time. Things are different, now, I do movies mainly for the role.

BW Let's talk a little bit about what you're doing now, 'Scent of a Woman'. It's a sensational performance.

AL Thank you.

BW It really is. In the role you are a man of tremendous pride and anger. You don't sit like this...(pointing to Al). There's a different way you sit, there's a different way you look. Is it possible for you to look at me as if you're blind and then look at me seeing? Can you show me?

AL You know, I could have shown you easier, I could show you now. I am doing it now.

BW That's right, you're doing it now.

AL I am not focused. I am not seeing you.. But, there it is. It's interesting.

BW It's very strange.

AL Yeh, it does a whole thing to your body. You see, it changes your...your everything, the way everything moves.

BW Your head, everything

AL Yeh

BW How did you become a blind man?

AL Well, it's all mimicry finally, in the end, for an actor. There's a lot of things you do, plus I've played blind before. It's like when you get a part, as a police officer. And the first time you get a part as a police officer you do a lot of different things then you would the 2nd and 3rd & 4th times you played it. Things change. I mean if I was painting this room, if I started painting this room today. And I had to paint this room everyday for a year, the way I would be painting this room today and the way I would be painting in a year is a different painter. It's just practice.

BW Can I ask you questions about your private life without you jumping out of the chair?

AL You know what, my hair might start falling off if you do. Yeh, it's OK.

BW You have a little girl?

AL Yeh

BW 3 years old. To me 3 years old is the most heavenly age.

AL It's the Batman age.

BW It's the Batman age?

AL Yeh

BW What's it like for you to have a child?

AL Ah, well it's, it's...different. It changes, it changes everything. It changes the way you think about things. It changes everything. It's a... I mean, right now, I am thinking about it. What I did this morning. I got a call from my kid this morning. She called me to tell me she was going to go to school today. It changes, ah yeh, the way you think about everything.

BW Are you a good father? Do you think about that?

AL well

BW What it takes to bring up a child

AL Well, I am working on it. Well, I hope that I will be one day. I, I don't know...now. You do what you can.

BW Is she adorable?

AL Yeh...she is

BW It is the 1st time in this whole interview you've broken out in a totally big smile.

AL Well

BW You're not married. Never have been married

AL No...never been married

BW And anyone who interviews you, the few times you have been interviewed, asks the same question. Do you want to get married?

AL Ah

BW You know, as an outside thing, do you think about what it would be like to be married?

AL I don't think about it, ah. Once in awhile, of course, you can't...you come in contact with people talking about themselves getting married and I quess I would like to get married one day. I think I would. But, it would have to be a certain kind of marriage.

BW What kind?

AL Well, it would be, whatever they say, sort of mutual kind of ah agreement of sort. In terms of how we would live, because my lifestyle is one that's erratic and different.. Ah, and I would hope that if I married someone that they'd be aware of that and our lifestyles would be able to mesh.

BW You believe in fidelity?

Al Yeh, I mean if that's what your bond is, then yes, of course.

BW You have been romantically involved with women you've worked with, Diane Keaton of course, in Godfather 2 films and so forth. What about, is it easier or harder to love and work and mix the both?

AL I find it harder. When you are with someone you're very close to, you're sensitivity to what's going on with them. And they are with you. So, when you're in a condition where you have to be objective and be a part, and you really need tunnel vision to work, it's difficult. And it did happen to me several times where it was uncomfortable because of that. Some of the freedom goes, for me. But then I know people who just...love it.

BW They want to work together

AL It feeds them...Not me.

BW Two of your leading ladies, who are very good-looking women Ellen Barkin and Michelle Pfeiffer, who are both very fond of you say that you have a terrible time doing love scenes. Because it's hard for you to do love scenes if you're not...in love. You can't 'fake it'. You can't fake a love scene.

AL Well, the idea of the love scene it's all about how the love scene, for me anyway, the love scene in Sea of Love is constructed a certain way. It's choreographed. And it's built a certain way, because it's about furthering the story. It's about how it fits in the story. How it ties in emotionally. And in 'Frankie and Johnny', it was about his 'letting go'. The scene was significant. It had a certain significance. So then you walk, ah, straight ahead. Then you do it, you know, you're undetectable when you do it, it's...it's not, not what it appears to be. And ah, you know it's not really unpleasant kissing Michelle Pfeiffer.

BW It isn't exactly torture. Kissing Michelle Pfeiffer is not exactly one of the hardest things you've ever done?

AL No, no it's not

BW You'll go on the record as saying that?

AL Yes

BW Are you in love now? You don't have to answer, but it would be nice.

AL If, if I was in love and if I am in love, I really...

BW would not discuss it

AL No, I wouldn't

BW Do you think people confuse you with your roles?

AL Ah, yeh I think that happens

BW What do they think you are?

AL Ah, boy! I couldn't even guess...I just couldn't even guess...cause I

BW Dark

AL Yeh, that I am

BW I don't just mean dark, dark hair. Dark, mysterious

AL Well, you know, I guess when you're an actor you try, at least I do anyway, I try to have the personality stay out of the way of the character I am playing, so the performance can live on it's own, hopefully, and not be interferred with by my personality.

BW Let's go back to this whole business of fame. You live in New York, you don't live in Hollywood

AL Yeh

BW You live a private life

AL Yeh

BW Relatively, I mean. You're not at openings and things and stuff...we don't see you around. If you are a successful actor, you become famous, right? Otherwise, you're not a successful actor? In today's terms.

AL Yeh, well you know, fame is relative too. You know, some people are famous, are not actors. Some people are famous enough because they did something, are successful at something.

BW What I am getting at..

AL Fame is different than success

BW Fame is different than success. But fame is a by-product of the success. And, it's hard to be successful and then reject the fame.

AL Oh no...you can't reject the fame. I accept the fame, I really do. I have....I have been accepting it now for years. I had a little trouble, earlier on accepting it, but not now.

BW What are the cliches about you? What are the things you read or hear. The words that I hear that describe you, that you read...dark, broody, introspective

AL Oh...that's right, cliches they are. Of course I am not that. I mean, the best way, I think,...the best way would be to have someone who's known me for 30-40 years talk about me. I think that would be, I mean, I would be interested in that, because I would say, "I wonder what they see"? I think that's how you would find out. Someone who really knows me...seen all these facets in me. I am sort of, not, I am doing things, so I don't know.

BW Do you have a philosophy by which you live or direct your...

AL My philosophy is "Man's a little bit better than his reputation and a little bit worse".

BW Do you have a fantasy?

AL Yes, having my own talk show. (laughs)

BW Have your own talk show? Ok, I'll tell you my fantasy. In 'Scent of a Woman', you get up and you do the most wonderful Tango. It just...

AL Dancing's great. I used to love to dance.

BW Do you still? Do you like to dance? Now, wait a second, if I can figure out how this thing goes (has a tape recorder..playing tango music)

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(BW) I think we imagine actors, like Al Pacino, as having a unique gift that's something akin to a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. We assume that he gets the part of a cop or a blind man and somehow his instinct takes over, the magic kicks in. And, he becomes that person. So, how nice it was to hear Al Pacino say that his secret was PRACTICE. Just doing it over and over again. While audiences around the world sit in dark movie theaters and supply their own magic.