Big Al gets into the act
10/01/06 08:43 PM
Photo: NBC Universal
By ED BARK
James Lipton tees up another one Monday night, this time spending two slow-brewed hours with a guy who's well worth the time.
It's Al Pacino's turn, at long last, to submit to Bravo's longrunning Inside the Actors Studio (6 central, 7 eastern). It's the one show that NBC Universal hasn't messed with or canceled since acquiring the network several years ago and quickly cheesing it up. Which means that Billy Bush isn't hosting yet, although NBC's own Jay Leno somehow was deemed worthy of a guest spot after amassing a film career that pretty much began and ended with his role as "Poopy Butt" in 1979's Americathon.
Lipton, memorably parodied by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live, at least is obsessed with the artists' craft. He doesn't diddle around with matters of the flesh or any other easily served up scandals. Pacino in turn is as forthcoming as he's probably ever been, particularly after Lipton solemnly intones, "It was called, of course, The Godfather."
The movie that made Pacino a megastar is also the one that Paramount wanted him fired from, even during filming. But director Francis Ford Coppola kept fighting on his behalf, finally sealing the deal by shooting Michael Corleone's famed restaurant gundown scene well ahead of schedule so that studio bosses could see the kid had what it takes.
Pacino, in a dark pinstriped suit and black, open-collared shirt, recalls being intense even as a five-year-old. The preschooler used to do scenes from The Lost Weekend, for which Ray Milland won an Oscar as an alcoholic. But his friends and relatives would laugh at him, Pacino remembers. He now knows it was simply at the sight of someone so young doing something so adult.
The legendary actor doesn't exactly melt like butter in Lipton's presence. You can still feel him holding back, declining to really answer what it was like to share scenes with Marlon Brando in The Godfather. But it's clear he's really trying. So you can hear a pin drop when Pacino distills acting to its essence in these two sentences: "What you're trying to do is get yourself out of the way all the time. And when you're very successful at something, it's when you do that the most."
Lipton, who quotes "the unerring" Roger Ebert five times Monday night, just happens to know how many times characters used the f-word in Pacino's 1992 film version of Glengarry Glen Ross. Pacino doesn't have that stat, but says it couldn't have been more times than in Scarface. Luckily, the latter film's producer, Martin Bergman, has got his back. Lipton says the official f-bomb count is 137 for Glengarry. Bergman raises him, saying from the audience that Scarface had 170 of 'em.
That's a prime slice of trivia on a program that otherwise prides itself on not being trivial. Lipton will always be an acquired taste at best, but his intentions are honorable. Inside the Actors Studio is still a place where guests can talk both seriously and conversationally about what's made them tick. In that realm, Pacino is certainly worth a good listen.
Grade: B+
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