Al Pacino's Passion Projects: 4 of the Star's Hard-to-Find Movies

Most actors who make the leap to directing aren’t shy about letting the world know about their new career path. That’s not the case with Al Pacino, who returns to screens on Jan. 23 in the dark comedy The Humbling, directed by Barry Levinson. Pacino has ventured behind the camera several times over the decades, but he rarely hypes these labors of love, which are usually shot and edited over multiple years and rarely (if ever) given wide theatrical distribution.

The common thread uniting his efforts is that they’re all intimately associated with the theater. And rather than try to escape theatrical artificiality, these movies tend to embrace it. As Pacino once remarked in a red carpet interview, “I direct things that I have a feeling for. I’ve always had a feeling for the theater, so I like to do theater pieces on film because I’m trying to marry film and theater. I’ve been trying to do it, I haven’t quite done it yet.” Here’s a look back at his various attempts:  

Paul Guilfoyle and Pacino in The Local Stigmatic

The Local Stigmatic (1990)

Theatrical Origins: Based on a one-act play written in 1965 by English author Heathcote Williams.

The Plot: A pair of East End lowlifes (Pacino and Paul Guilfoyle) engages in a rambling conversation that culminates in a shocking act of violence.

The Story Behind the Film: Pacino first encountered Williams’s play while studying at New York’s famed Actor’s Studio in the late ‘60s and performed it onstage several times over the years, including a production that paired him with his Dog Day Afternoon co-star, John Cazale. In the ‘80s, he decided to capture the play on film, financing the project out of his own pocket and shooting in various locations in between bigger movies.

Technically, Pacino isn’t the director of Stigmatic — he hired David F. Wheeler for that job. But the actor was intimately involved in every aspect of the production, and also made the decision to hold it back from public view for years after it was completed, screening it only at special events and private gatherings like seminars for acting students. The latter setting makes sense because Stigmatic is an actors’ showcase first and foremost: The locations are limited, the camerawork is static, and Pacino and Guilfoyle contribute highly-stylized performances, particularly in regards to their put-on Cockney accents. In a way, the movie actually benefits from its relative scarcity — the legend surrounding it turns out to be more interesting than the finished product.

In Pacino’s Own Words: “I admire [the film] and I stand behind it. It expresses to me something that I believe in, and it’s an extension of my feelings and my life, really — I guess what I come from in terms of the ‘60s and the Off-Off Broadway world and the world of the Living Theatre. I’m glad I put it on film, because I think on film it’s cleared up things.” (From the DVD featurette)

Availability: The Local Stigmatic was made commercially available for the first and only time as part of the now out-of-print and hard-to-find 2007 DVD box set, Al Pacino: An Actor’s Vision. (It’s worth noting that the revised credits on the DVD list Pacino as the movie’s co-director alongside Wheeler.) It can also be found in its entirety on YouTube below:

Pacino in Looking for Richard

Looking for Richard (1996)

Theatrical Origins: Based on Shakespeare’s historical tragedy about one of England’s most controversial kings.

The Plot: Mixing documentary and theater, Pacino films himself mounting a star-studded production of Richard III in which the action frequently spills off the stage.

The Story Behind the Film: Eager to tackle Shakespeare onscreen, Pacino hit upon this mixed-media approach, which grew out of conversations he had with acting students. Looking for Richard was filmed piecemeal over a roughly four-year period and Pacino’s loose, improvisational directing style stymied some of his more classically-trained cast members. (Frank Langella, for example, was involved early on, but eventually left the production and was replaced by Alec Baldwin.) It can also be a barrier to audiences expecting a more straightforward modern-day version of Richard III, although film students will find lots to admire in Pacino’s deft juggling of theatrical reality and cinematic reality. Thanks in part to the movie’s high-profile ensemble, which also includes Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder and Estelle Parsons, Richard is the only Pacino-directed movie to date that has received an actual theatrical run, courtesy of Fox Searchlight. It also netted the actor a DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary…even if the film is only half a documentary.   

In Pacino’s Own Words: “I had this sort of freedom, so it was charging me up with an energy I never felt before. It was 5 in the morning, and I was out there directing and working on scenes. I understand why directors are nuts, because you’re sort of energized by the very film itself, by the excitement of something else that you’re creating. As an actor… it’s tiring, the camera pulls out of you. But [with] directing, I can understand why people get carried away on a canvas, like Michelangelo on the ceiling.” (From the DVD featurette)

Availability: Looking for Richard is part of the Al Pacino: An Actor’s Vision box set, and can also be streamed via Amazon Instant, iTunes, YouTube and Vudu. Watch the trailer below:

Jerry Orbach and Pacino in Chinese Coffee

Chinese Coffee (2000)

Theatrical Origins: Based on a two-man play by Ira Lewis.

The Plot: Over the course of one evening, old friends and Greenwich Village raconteurs Harry (Pacino) and Jake (Jerry Orbach) argue about life, literature and love.

The Story Behind the Film: Like The Local Stigmatic, Chinese Coffee was a play that Pacino had previously performed on stage and wanted a filmed record of for posterity. So once again, he poured his own funds into the production and filmed it under-the-radar. That description also applies to the film’s release; after appearances at the Toronto, Telluride, and Tribeca film festivals (the first two in 2000, the latter in 2003), Chinese Coffee vanished into Pacino’s vault. That’s a shame, because it might be the best of his directed pieces, helped along immeasurably by the presence of the late Orbach. 

In Pacino’s Own Words: “For a long time, I tried all kinds of things to make this film a movie. I found that I shot much more than I needed to. I was trying to make a $1 out of 99 cents. It doesn’t work. You gotta go with the glow really, and the glow is the dialogue and this relationship.” (From the DVD commentary track)

Availability: Chinese Coffee is only available commercially as part of the Actor’s Vision box set. Watch a scene below:

Pacino and Jessica Chastain in WildeSalomé

Wilde Salomé/Salomé (2011/2013)

Theatrical Origins: Based on British playwright Oscar Wilde’s 1891 interpretation of the Biblical story of Salomé and King Herod.

The Plot: Pacino gives Wilde’s play the Looking for Richard treatment, making a film about the making of his stage production of Salomé, starring a then-unknown actress named Jessica Chastain.

The Story Behind the Film: Pacino admitted to being obsessed with Salomé and Wilde for decades, but it wasn’t until he was introduced to Chastain that he felt compelled to make a movie. In fact, he made two. Wilde Salomé documents his own complex history and relationship to the play, along with footage from his intensive rehearsals with his co-star. Salomé removes the documentary elements in favor of the play itself. Pacino tinkered with both versions in the editing room for years as Chastain became a sought-after star. Despite her increased profile though, these films have largely remained out of the public eye, with Wilde Salomé only popping up at the 2011 Venice International Film Festival and at a 2012 fundraising screening for San Francisco’s GLBT Historical Society, attracting mostly positive reviews.

In Pacino’s Own Words: “I once said I had a vision, but I didn’t have a story. I guess what I tried to do is create story. I don’t know what it is: I like to say it’s a documentary because it’s not a film, but then it’s not a documentary either. So I’m confused, too…. I wanted it to reflect some of who Oscar Wilde was and what he went through, but not intensely, not like a documentary would do it.” (At the Venice Film Festival)

Availability: In 2014, he screened the two films in England as a double-bill— an event he may replicate for U.S. audiences, although no specific dates have been set. If you have a region-free DVD player, you can also order the UK-released set, which comes with both films. Watch the trailer below:

Image credits: 20th Century Fox Video, Rex USA, Everett, Sneaky Pete Productions