Carlito's Way is a 1993 crime film directed by Brian De Palma, based on the novels Carlito's Way and After Hours^[2] by Judge Edwin Torres. The film adaptation was scripted by David Koepp. It stars Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, Luis Guzman, John Leguizamo, Jorge Porcel, Joseph Siravo, and Viggo Mortensen. The film's featured song, "You Are So Beautiful", was performed by Joe Cocker.

The film is based mainly on After Hours, but used the title of the first novel to avoid it being confused with Martin Scorsese's 1985 film of the same name, and focuses on Carlito's activities once he is released from prison. Carlito Brigante, a fictional Puerto Rican criminal vows to go straight and to retire in paradise. However, his past will not let him, and he unwittingly ends up being dragged into the same criminal activities that got him imprisoned in the first place.

Carlito's Way received a mixed response from critics, with a similar lukewarm result at the box office, but has subsequently gained a cult following. Both Sean Penn and Penelope Ann Miller received Golden Globe nominations for their performances. A prequel titled Carlito's Way: Rise to Power, based on the first novel, was filmed and released in 2005.

Plot[link]

In 1975, after serving 5 years of a 30 year prison sentence, Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino) is freed on a legal technicality exploited by his close friend and lawyer, Dave Kleinfeld (Sean Penn). Carlito vows to be through with his criminal activities but is persuaded to accompany his young cousin Guajiro (John Ortiz) to a drug deal held at a bar. Guajiro is betrayed and killed by his suppliers and Carlito is forced to shoot his way out. Afterwards, Carlito takes Guajiro's $30,000 from the botched deal and uses it to buy into a nightclub owned by a gambling addict named Saso (Jorge Porcel) with the intent on saving $75,000 to retire to the Caribbean.

As nightclub co-owner, Carlito declines several offers for a business partnership with an ambitious, albeit obnoxious, young gangster from the Bronx named Benny Blanco (John Leguizamo). Carlito also rekindles his romance with his former girlfriend Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), a ballet dancer who moonlights as a stripper. Kleinfeld develops a love interest with Benny's girlfriend, Steffie, a waitress at Carlito's nightclub. Benny's frustration with Carlito's constant rejections boils over and he confronts Carlito one night at his table. Carlito publicly humiliates Benny, who reacts by manhandling Steffie. Fueled by his now extensive use of alcohol and cocaine, Kleinfeld brazenly pulls out a gun and threatens to kill Benny, but Carlito intervenes. Despite being personally threatened by Benny himself, Carlito lets Benny go unharmed; a decision which alienates Carlito's gangster friend and personal bodyguard Pachanga (Luis Guzmán).

Kleinfeld, who stole one million dollars in payoff money from his Italian mob-boss client, Anthony "Tony T" Taglialucci, is coerced into providing his yacht to help Tony T break out of the Rikers Island prison barge. Kleinfeld begs for Carlito's assistance in the prison break, and Carlito reluctantly agrees. Under cover of night, Carlito, Kleinfeld, and Tony T's son, Frankie, sail to a floating buoy outside of the prison barge where Tony T is waiting. As they pull Tony T aboard, Kleinfeld unexpectedly bludgeons him to death then slits Frankie's throat and dumps both of their bodies in the East River. Carlito immediately severs his ties with Kleinfeld and decides to leave town with Gail. The next day, Kleinfeld barely survives a retaliatory assassination attempt when he's stabbed in the chest at his office by two mobsters.

Carlito is apprehended by police and taken to District Attorney Norwalk's (James Rebhorn) office where he is played a tape of Kleinfeld making a deal and offering to testify to false criminal allegations against Carlito. Norwalk advises that he is aware of Carlito as an accomplice to the Taglialucci murders in an attempt to leverage him into betraying Kleinfeld to save himself, but Carlito refuses. Carlito visits Kleinfeld under police protection in the hospital, where Kleinfeld confesses to selling him out; Carlito warns Kleinfeld that he's crossed the line from being a lawyer to acting like a gangster, and other gangsters will treat him accordingly. Having noticed a suspicious man dressed in a police uniform waiting in the lobby, Carlito deftly unloads Kleinfeld's revolver and parts ways with him. The man turns out to be Tony T's other son, Vinnie (Joseph Siravo), seeking vengeance for his brother and father. Vinnie sneaks into Kleinfeld's room and executes him without incident because of Kleinfeld's empty gun.

Carlito then buys train tickets to Miami for himself and Gail, now pregnant. When he stops by his club to get the stashed money, Carlito is met by a group of Italian mobsters led by Vinnie. The Italians plan on killing Carlito, but he manages to slip out through a secret exit. The Italians pursue him throughout the city's subway system and into Grand Central Terminal where they engage in a gunfight. Carlito kills all of his pursuers except Vinnie, who is shot and killed by police attracted by the gunfire.

As Carlito runs to catch the train where Gail and Pachanga are waiting for him, he is ambushed by a disguised Benny, who shoots Carlito several times in the abdomen with a silenced gun. Pachanga admits to the dying Carlito that he is now working for Benny, only to be shot as well. Carlito hands a tearful Gail the money and tells her to escape with their unborn child and start a new life elsewhere. As he is wheeled away on a gurney, Carlito stares at a billboard with a Caribbean beach and a picture of a woman. The billboard then comes to life in his mind, and the woman, who is clearly Gail, starts dancing as Carlito slowly passes away.

Cast[link]

• Al Pacino as Carlito Brigante. Pacino came to Carlito's Way directly from his Oscar-winning role in Scent of a Woman.^[3] To get into the character, he accompanied Torres through East Harlem. There he could absorb the sights and atmosphere.^[4] Pacino first envisioned Carlito with a ponytail. But after his visits to Harlem he quickly realized the guys there were not into wearing their hair that way. The beard was Pacino's idea. The black leather coat just fit into the period setting.^[5]
• Sean Penn as David Kleinfeld. For the pivotal role of Carlito's sleazy lawyer and best friend, Penn was lured back from early retirement by the challenge of playing the corrupt lawyer. Taking the role meant that he could finance his movie The Crossing Guard and work with Pacino.^[6] De Palma and Penn sat down and discussed what '70s mob lawyers looked like. Often, men in the entertainment business can look more bizarre than the talent they represent.^[6] Penn shaved the hair on the front of his forehead to give the appearance of a receding hairline. He permed the rest.^[7] Alan Dershowitz, believing that Penn was attempting to look like him, threatened the filmmakers with a defamation lawsuit.^[8]
• Penelope Ann Miller as Gail. Carlito's girlfriend and one of the few people he truly trusts, she is the only person who has ever seen Carlito's goodness. She is a dancer dreaming of the big time, but is reduced to working in a strip club to make ends meet. Although the story is a suspenseful crime thriller, their doomed romance is at the heart of the film. At the time, Miller was 29 years old to Pacino's 53. Casting for Gail proved difficult because of the character's striptease scenes. The character needed someone who was both a talented dancer and actor.^[7]
• John Leguizamo as Benny Blanco. Leguizamo completed the main cast as "Benny Blanco from the Bronx", an up-and-coming gangster who is determined to exceed Carlito's reputation but lacks any sense of ethics.^[9]
• Luis Guzmán as Pachanga. One of the few remaining old time friends of Carlito, he works as his right-hand man at the Club Paradise. He would eventually betray Carlito to work with Blanco. After Carlito escapes and kills the mobsters, Pachanga and Carlito run to Gail and the train, where Blanco shoots both Carlito and Pachanga. In Koepp's first draft of the screenplay, Pachanga spoke in a very heavy slang style. Following rumbles from the Latino cast and crew, Koepp toned this down.^[10]
• Jorge Porcel as Saso. Saso, or "Ron", is the owner of Club Paradise before Kleinfeld asks Carlito to take charge. He is a gambling addict with many dangerous debts to settle.
• Ingrid Rogers as Steffie. Rogers makes her feature debut as Steffie who works in the Club Paradise. She was initially Benny Blanco's girlfriend before she set her sights on David Kleinfeld and his riches.
• James Rebhorn as Norwalk. Norwalk is the District Attorney involved with Carlito's conviction case. He shadows Carlito throughout the film trying to convict him, but eventually turns his attention away from Carlito and towards the corrupt Kleinfeld.
• Joseph Siravo as Vincent "Vinnie" Taglialucci. The elder son of Tony T and older brother of Frankie, he is out to avenge his father's and brother's deaths. Vinnie disguises himself as a police officer and kills Kleinfled. He and other Italian gangsters chase Carlito on the subway and into the train station. Carlito kills all except for Vinnie on the escalator. A wounded Vinnie staggers after Carlito but the police finish Vinnie off.
• Frank Minucci as Anthony "Tony T." Taglialucci. An Italian mob boss known as Tony T., he is the father of Vinnie and Frankie and a client of Kleinfeld. He lent him a million dollars for a payoff while in prison, but Kleinfeld laundered the money. He is sprung from the prison barge but is murdered by Kleinfeld before he can get out of the water.
• Adrian Pasdar as Frank "Frankie" Taglialucci. The youngest son of Tony T. and younger brother of Vinnie. He accompanies Kleinfeld and Carlito on the boat to rescue Tony. Kleinfeld kills him with a crowbar while he steers the boat, then dumps his and his father's bodies into the sea.
• Richard Foronjy as Pete Amadesso. An old acquaintance of Carlito and a business associate of Tony T and Vincent. He is among those who chase Carlito to Grand Central. Pete is shot by Carlito on the escalator.
• Viggo Mortensen as Lalin. Once a handsome, suave gangster friend of Carlito's, he is now a paraplegic in a wheelchair. He arrives at the nightclub wearing a hidden microphone to gain evidence against Carlito for DA Norwalk, as it is the only way he could stay out of prison.
• John Augstin Ortiz as Guajiro. Carlito's young, naive cousin, he convinces Carlito to make a stop at a pool hall as his backup during a drug deal. The deal goes wrong and he is killed by the drug dealers.
• Al Israel as Rolando. A former partner of Carlito's, whom he meets with, and announces his retirement to. Rolando is grateful to Carlito for not snitching on him while in prison, but doesn't believe Carlito would truly retire.
• Ángel Salazar as Walberto.
• Orlando Urdaneta as a bartender.

Production[link]

Pacino first heard about Carlito Brigante in a YMCA gym in New York in 1973. Pacino was working out for his movie Serpico when he met New York state supreme court Judge Edwin Torres (the author who was writing the novels Carlito's Way and After Hours). When the novels were completed Al read them and liked them, especially the character of Carlito.^[5] Inspiration for the novels came from Torres' background, things that were most familiar to him: the East Harlem barrio where he was born and raised in an atmosphere of racial gangs, drugs and poverty.^[11] In 1989, Pacino faced a $6 million lawsuit from producer Elliott Kastner. Kastner claimed Pacino had gone back on an agreement to star in his version of a Carlito movie with Marlon Brando as criminal lawyer David Kleinfeld. The suit was dropped and the project was abandoned.^[5]

Pacino went to producer Martin Bregman with the intention of getting a Carlito film made.^[12] First thing on the list was to get a script written that would portray Carlito Brigante's world and provide a suitable showcase for Pacino's talents.^[12] David Koepp had just finished writing the script for Bregman's forthcoming The Shadow when producer Michael S. Bregman suggested him to write the script for Carlito's Way.^[3] The decision came that the screenplay would be based on the second novel After Hours. Carlito at this stage would match closer with Pacino's age.^[4] Although based primarily on the second novel, the title Carlito's Way remained,^[4] mainly because of the existence of Martin Scorsese's movie After Hours.^[3] Bregman would work closely with Koepp for two years to develop the shooting script for Carlito's Way.^[3]

Koepp wrestled with the voice-over throughout the writing process. Initially the voice-over was to take place in the hospital, but De Palma suggested the train station platform.^[10] The hospital scenes were written 25 to 30 times because the actors had trouble with the sequence, with Pacino even thinking that Carlito would not go to the hospital. With one final re-write Koepp managed to make the scene work to Pacino's satisfaction.^[10] In the novels Kleinfeld does not die, but De Palma has a huge sense of justice and retribution. He could not have Carlito killed off and have Kleinfeld live.^[10]

At one point, The Long Good Friday director, John Mackenzie, was linked with the film. When Carlito's Way and its sequel After Hours were optioned, Martin Bregman had Abel Ferrara in mind. However, when Bregman and Ferrara parted ways, De Palma was brought in. Bregman explained that this decision was not about "getting the old team back together", rather than making use of the best talent available.^[5] De Palma, reluctantly, read the script and as soon as Spanish-speaking characters cropped up he feared it would be Scarface all over again.^[7] He said that he did not want to make another Spanish-speaking gangster movie.^[5] When De Palma finally did read it all the way through, he realized it was not what he thought it was. De Palma liked the script and envisioned it as a noir movie.^[3] Bregman supervised casting throughout the various stages of pre-production, and carefully selected the creative team who would make the film a reality. This included production designer Richard Sylbert, editor Bill Pankow, costume designer Aude Bronson-Howard and director of photography Stephen Burum.^[13]

Initially, filming began on March 22, 1993, though the first scheduled shoot, the Grand Central Station climax, had to be changed when Pacino showed up on crutches. Instead, the tension-building pool hall sequence, where Pacino accompanies his young cousin Guajiro on an ill-fated drug deal, started the production.^[6] Because the film was heavily character based and featured little action, the early pool sequence had to be elaborate and set up right. A huge amount of time was spent setting it up and filming it.^[7] After the film studio had viewed a cut of the pool hall sequence, a note was passed onto the crew stating that they felt the scene was too long. De Palma spent more time adding to the sequence and with the help of editor Bill Pankow made it work. The producers came back saying "much better shorter."^[10]

Apart from the poster sequence, which was shot in Florida, the entire movie was filmed on location in New York. De Palma roamed Manhattan searching for suitable visual locations. A tenement on 115th Street became the site of Carlito's homecoming: the barrio scene. The courtroom, in which Carlito thanks the prosecutor, was shot in Judge Torres's workplace, the State Supreme Court Building at 60 Centre Street.^[6] The Club Paradise was initially in a West Side brownstone as the model for the book's postprandial premises. But this was considered too cramped for filming. A multi-level bistro club designed by De Palma took shape at the Kaufman-Astoria Studios in Long Island City, in a style of 1970's art deco disco.^[14]

Tony Taglialucci's escape from Rikers Island, a night shoot mid-river, was considered impossible. Instead, the production used a Brooklyn shipyard where Kleinfeld's boat was lowered into an empty "lock" into which river water was pumped. Smoke machines and towers of space lights were installed.

For a climactic finale, De Palma staged a chase scene from the platform of the 125th Street (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line) actual location was in Brooklyn at Smith–Ninth Streets (IND Culver Line) G and F trains, to the escalators of Grand Central Terminal. For the shoot, trains were re-routed and timed so that Pacino and his pursuers could dart from car to hurtling car.^[14] The length of the escalator scene during the climactic shoot out at Grand Central Station caused a headache for editor Pankow. He had to piece together the sequences so that the audience would be so tied up in the action that they would not be thinking about how long the escalator was running.^[15]

Reception[link]

Carlito's Way wrapped on July 20, 1993, and was released on 3 November 1993.^[16] Critical response to the theatrical release was somewhat lukewarm. The film was criticized for re-treading old ground,^[17] mainly De Palma's own Scarface and The Untouchables.^[18][19] Roger Ebert stated in his review that the film is one of De Palma's finest with some of the best set-pieces he has done.^[19] Patrick Doyle was praised on his scoring of the film soundtrack, which was described as "elegiac" and "hauntingly beautiful," which "displays Doyle as one of the major talents of modern film scoring."^[20] Peter Travers (of Rolling Stone) criticised the film for Pacino's "Rican" accent slipping into his "Southern drawl from Scent of a Woman", "De Palma's erratic pacing and derivative shootouts" and "what might have been if Carlito's Way had forged new ground and not gone down smokin' in the shadow of Scarface."^[21]

On the Siskel & Ebert show, Ebert gave the film a thumbs up while Siskel gave it a thumbs down.^[21] Owen Gleiberman (from Entertainment Weekly) described the film as "a competent and solidly unsurprising urban-underworld thriller" and is "okay entertainment," but went on to say that the plot would have worked better "as a lean and mean Miami Vice episode."^[22] The film has a fresh rating of 82% on the Rotten Tomatoes review site.^[23]

Bregman was surprised about some of the negative reviews, but stated that some of the same reviewers have since "retracted" their views upon further discussions of the film.^[12] A few weeks before the film's premiere, De Palma told the crew not to get their hopes up about the film's reception. He correctly predicted that Pacino, having just won an Oscar, would be criticized; Koepp, having just done Jurassic Park, would "suck"; Penn would be "brilliant" because he had not done anything for a while; and he himself, having not been forgiven for The Bonfire of the Vanities, would not quite be embraced.^[10]

Carlito's Way premiered with an opening weekend box office taking of over $9 million. At the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed over $36 million in the United States and $63 million worldwide.^[1] Sean Penn and Penelope Ann Miller both received Golden Globe nominations for their respective roles as Kleinfeld and Gail.^[24] The post cinematic appreciation of the film was later highlighted when the French publication Cahiers du cinéma named it as Best film of the 1990s along with The Bridges of Madison County and Goodbye South Goodbye.^[17][25]

Cultural influence[link]

Although the film was not considered a success with its initial theatrical run the film was popular on home video and gained a growing fan base.^[17] Carlito's Way's influence can be seen in many subsequent forms of media, be it music, television shows or video games. Ken Rosenberg of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and San Andreas video games was based on Sean Penn's portrayal of Kleinfeld. They look similar, talk in the same manner, have a similar build, have the same clothing style and display similar traits of drug use and increasing paranoia.^[26] The character Benny Blanco is parodied in the MMORPG World of Warcraft with the Defias thug "Benny Blanco" in Westfall.^[27] Benny Blanco is also used as one of names that Adam Hussain from the band Goldie Lookin Chain uses in some of their songs.

In Will Ferrell's comedy special You're Welcome America, the film is mentioned in reference to President George W. Bush record-setting amount of time spent on vacation. Bush (played by Ferrell) states his pride at setting that record, mentioning that he watched Carlito's Way over 800 times while vacationing.

A clip of Carlito shouting "Here comes the pain!" is used in the song "(sic)" by Slipknot.^[28] Rapper Jay-Z has used samples of Carlito's dialogue in some of his songs including "Intro/A Million And One Questions/Rhyme No More",^{[citation needed]} "Brooklyn's Finest",^[29] and Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life.^{[citation needed]} Jay-Z also references himself playing a lead role in a fictional movie "Hovito's Way" in the song "Allure".^[30] Carlito's ending monologue is sampled on Ghostface Killa's album Ironman.^{[citation needed]} In the 2009 album Loso's Way by American hip hop artist Fabolous the track listings included a song titled "Pachanga" which references to Carlito's friend, Pachanga betraying him. Evident in the hook's lyrics "A Love changes, a thug changes and best friends become strangers, Pachangas"

An additional sample of dialogue from the film can be found in Living Legends' song "Gotta Question For Ya" from their album Almost Famous, beginning with the line "Can you come with me?".^[31]

The Prodigy sampled the line "Hey, remember me? Benny Blanco From The Bronx?" during their live shows in 1997, however the tune it was used in was not released. The line "When you can’t see the angles no more, you're in trouble" was sampled by jungle/drum'n'bass producer DJ Krust in "Angles" (1996).^[32]

Music[link]

Patrick Doyle composed the original score, while Musical supervisor Jellybean Benitez supplemented the soundtrack with elements of salsa, merengue and other authentic styles.^[13]

Score[link]

Soundtrack[link]

Other songs heard in the film, but not included on the soundtrack, are You Should Be Dancing by The Bee Gees, Fly, Robin, Fly by Silver Convention and Do It ('Til You're Satisfied) by B.T. Express.

Releases[link]

The film has been released on VHS and LaserDisc standard and widescreen versions.^[23] It was later released on DVD in 2004,^[33] with an Ultimate Edition following in 2005.^[34] The Ultimate Edition DVD includes deleted scenes, an interview with De Palma, a making-of documentary and more.^[35] In 2007 an HD DVD version was released, which features the same bonus material as the Ultimate Edition.^[36] The film was released on Blu-ray on May 18, 2010.^{[citation needed]}

Prequel[link]

Edwin Torres' first novel Carlito's Way was filmed and released direct-to-video in 2005, under the title Carlito's Way: Rise to Power. Although critically panned, Torres did give the film his blessing and considers it to be quite an accurate adaptation of the first half of his novel, with a planned sequel for the second half in the works.^[37] It stars Jay Hernandez as Carlito, with Mario Van Peebles, Michael Joseph Kelly, Luis Guzmán, Jaclyn DeSantis, Sean Combs, Burt Young, and Domenick Lombardozzi also appearing. The story is set in 1969, as three prisoners, Earl (Van Peebles), Rocco (Kelly) and Carlito (Hernandez), control their criminal empire within their cell. Upon their release, they soon take control of the drug trade in Spanish Harlem.^[38]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Universal Pictures, Carlito's Way "Press Pack", 1993.
• Highbury Entertainment, "The Making Of Carlito's Way", Hotdog Magazine, August 2000.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Carlito's Way

• Carlito's Way at the Internet Movie Database
• Carlito's Way at AllRovi
• Carlito's Way at Box Office Mojo
• Carlito's Way at Rotten Tomatoes
• Carlito's Way on Innamoramento.net

Benny Blanco
Background information
Born	(1988-03-08) March 8, 1988 (age 24)
Origin	Reston, Virginia
Genres	Electro, pop rock, power pop
Occupations	Rapper, musician, songwriter, record producer

Benjamin Levin (born March 8, 1988), better known as Benny Blanco, is an American songwriter and producer. He first came to attention producing a collaborative EP with Spank Rock. Working with producer Dr. Luke, Blanco helped to write and produce number one singles for female pop stars such as Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Ke$ha, as well as artists like Justin Bieber, Mike Posner and Taio Cruz. He has had a part in co-writing or co-producing twelve number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as other top ten hits.

Life and career[link]

Career beginnings and Disco D influence[link]

When Blanco was 17 he received an e-mail from producer Disco D, and went to his penthouse in Brooklyn and asked if he could work for him. He said, “I’m leaving for Brazil next week, and you’re going to come and fill the studio for me. If you book someone to work at the studio every day of the week, you’re hired.” When Disco came back he hired Blanco who would commute every weekend from Virginia during high school. After graduating, he enrolled in the IAR (Institute of Audio Research) and worked with Disco D every day until being picked up by Pilot Creative Services Inc, a boutique management firm that had been working with D in the latter part of his career.^[1] His first beat was created for a pornography series called Hip Hop Honeys, created by Jonathan Shecter, the cofounder of The Source.^[2][2] Benny Blanco was originally founded by Sam Trocki of Atlantic City, New Jersey

When D died, Spank Rock, friend of D and his manager, James Johnson went to Pilot's Studio to mourn. He started to freestyle over a beat that D has created. Inspired by this, Blanco decided to move on from hip-hop and work with similar bass sounds, explaining that he wanted to "carry on [D's] legacy." Convinced that Spank Rock was the only one that could do the beats justice, Blanco sampled 2 Live Crew songs and begged Spank Rock to work with him. After recording an EP over Blanco's beats in his manager's loft, Spank Rock shopped it and received a deal for Bangers & Cash the following week.^[1][3]

Collaborations with Dr. Luke and chart success: 2008-present[link]

Blanco began working with producer, Dr. Luke in early 2008.^[4] After providing additional production for Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold",^[5] Blanco co-produced Britney Spears' "Circus" (as well as two other songs on the album) and 3OH!3's breakthrough single "Don't Trust Me", and received widespread attention for both.^[6][7] In addition, Blanco co-wrote and co-produced two tracks for Spears' next album Femme Fatale and new material with Bruno Mars, Mike Posner, Ke$ha, Gym Class Heroes, Maroon 5, Sean Paul, Pitbull. In 2010, Blanco's song for Katy Perry, "California Gurls" debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. On the issue dated June 19, 2010 the song reached #1. In 2011 Blanco's song for Ke$ha, "We R Who We R" debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was the seventeenth song in the history of the chart to debut at number one.^[8]

Blanco produced the track "No Sleep" for rapper Wiz Khalifa's debut album Rolling Papers (Wiz Khalifa album). The song debuted at #6 on Billboard Hot 100. Blanco also worked with Neon Hitch on her debut album "Beg, Borrow and Steal" for which he is the executive producer.

Top Ten Singles[link]

The following singles peaked inside the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 Airplay (Radio Songs) and/or the UK Singles Chart.

• 2008: "I Kissed a Girl" (Katy Perry) #1
• 2008: "Hot n Cold" (Katy Perry) #1
• 2008: "Circus" (Britney Spears) #1
• 2009: "Don't Trust Me" (3OH!3) #1
• 2009: "Tik Tok" (Ke$ha) #1
• 2010: "Eenie Meenie" (Sean Kingston & Justin Bieber)
• 2010: "Blah Blah Blah" (Ke$ha)
• 2010: "Your Love Is My Drug" (Ke$ha) #1
• 2010: "My First Kiss" (3OH!3)
• 2010: "California Gurls" (Katy Perry & Snoop Dogg) #1
• 2010: "Please Don't Go" (Mike Posner)
• 2010: "Dynamite" (Taio Cruz) #1
• 2010: "Teenage Dream" (Katy Perry) #1
• 2010: "We R Who We R" (Ke$ha) #1
• 2011: "Blow" (Ke$ha)
• 2011: "No Sleep" (Wiz Khalifa)
• 2011: "Stereo Hearts" (Gym Class Heroes & Adam Levine) #1
• 2011: "Moves Like Jagger" (Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera) #1
• 2012: "Payphone" (Maroon 5 & Wiz Khalifa)
• 2012: "Work Hard, Play Hard" (Wiz Khalifa)

Production Discography[link]

Title	Year	Album	Songwriter	Producer
"Send Some Shooters"	2007	Hell Rell – Eat With Me Or Eat A Box Of Bullets		Y
"Shake That"		Spank Rock – Bangers & Cash	Y	Y
"B-O-O-T-A-Y"			Y	Y
"Pu$$y"			Y	Y
"Bitch!"			Y	Y
"Loose"			Y	Y
"Circus"	2008	Britney Spears - Circus	Y	Y
"Shattered Glass"			Y	Y
"Lace and Leather"			Y	Y
"Broken Pieces"		Lil Mama – Voice Of The Young People		Y
"Hot n Cold"		Katy Perry - One Of The Boys		Y
"I Kissed A Girl"				Y
"Don't Ask Why"		Vanessa Hudgens - Identified		Y
"Amazed"				Y
"Set It Off"				Y
"Identified"				Y
"Watch You Go"	2009	Jordin Sparks - Battlefield	Y	Y
"Tell Me What Your Name Is"		Ciara – Fantasy Ride	Y	Y
"Dollhouse"		Priscilla Renea – Jukebox	Y	Y
"Touch Me"		Flo Rida – R.O.O.T.S	Y	Y
"Don't Trust Me"		3OH!3 – Want	Y	Y
"Rich Man"			Y	Y
"So Human"		Lady Sovereign – Jigsaw	Y	Y
"Pennies"			Y	Y
"Stupid Love Letter"		Friday Night Boys – Off The Deep End	Y	Y
"Dynamite"	2010	Taio Cruz – Rokstarr	Y	Y
"Eenie Meenie"		Justin Bieber & Sean Kingston – My World 2.0	Y	Y
"Blah Blah Blah"		Ke$ha – Animal	Y	Y
"Tik Tok"			Y	Y
"Party At A Rich Dude's House"			Y	Y
"Dancing With Tears In My Eyes"			Y	Y
"Blind"			Y	Y
"Your Love Is My Drug"				Y
"Somebody to Love [Remix]"		Justin Bieber & Usher – Versus		Y
"California Gurls"		Katy Perry - Teenage Dream	Y	Y
"Teenage Dream"			Y	Y
"My First Kiss"		3OH!3 - Streets of Gold	Y	Y
"Streets of Gold"			Y	Y
"Double Vision"				Y
"Please Don't Go"		Mike Posner - 31 Minutes to Takeoff	Y	Y
"Cheated"			Y	Y
"We R Who we R"		Ke$ha - Cannibal	Y	Y
"Sleazy"			Y	Y
"Blow"			Y	Y
"Grow A Pear"			Y	Y
"Who Dat Girl"		Flo Rida - Only One Flo (Part 1)	Y	Y
"Get Over U"	2011	Neon Hitch - Beg Borrow and Steal	Y	Y
"Bad Dog"			Y	Y
"Silly Girl"			Y	Y
"(Drop Dead) Beautiful"		Britney Spears - Femme Fatale	Y	Y
"Gasoline"			Y	Y
"No Sleep"		Wiz Khalifa - Rolling Papers	Y	Y
"Stereo Hearts"		Gym Class Heroes - The Papercut Chronicles II	Y	Y
"Ass Back Home"			Y	Y
"Moves Like Jagger"		Maroon 5 - Hands All Over	Y	Y
"Come N Go"		Pitbull - Planet Pit	Y	Y
"She Doesn't Mind"		Sean Paul- Tomahawk Technique	Y	Y
"Fuck U Betta"	2012	Neon Hitch - Beg, Borrow, Steal	Y	Y
"Heart Attack"		Trey Songz - Chapter 5	Y	Y
"Masquerade"		Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded	Y	Y
"Payphone"		Maroon 5 - Overexposed	Y	Y
"Beautiful Goodbye"			Y	Y</ceLnter>
"Work Hard, Play Hard"		Wiz Khalifa - O.N.I.F.C.	Y	Y
"Naked Love"	2012	Adam Lambert - Tresspassing	Y	Y

References[link]

External links[link]

• Benny Blanco on Myspace
• Benny Blanco on Twitter

Al Pacino
Al Pacino attending the Venice Film Festival in September 2004
Born	Alfredo James Pacino (1940-04-25) April 25, 1940 (age 72) New York City
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1968–present
Children	2 daughters, 1 son

Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (/pəˈtʃiːnɵ/; born April 25, 1940) is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy and Tony Montana in Scarface, though he has also appeared several times on the other side of the law — as a police officer, a detective and a lawyer. His role as Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman won him the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1993 after receiving seven previous Oscar nominations, one of them being in the same year.

He made his feature film debut in the 1969 film Me, Natalie in a minor supporting role, before playing the leading role in the 1971 drama The Panic in Needle Park. Pacino made his major breakthrough when he was given the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather in 1972, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Other Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor were for Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross. Oscar nominations for Best Actor include The Godfather Part II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice for All and Scent of a Woman.

In addition to a career in film, he has also enjoyed a successful career on stage, winning Tony Awards for Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. A longtime fan of Shakespeare, he made his directorial debut with Looking for Richard, a quasi-documentary on the play Richard III. Pacino has received numerous lifetime achievement awards, including one from the American Film Institute. He is a method actor, taught mainly by Lee Strasberg and Charles Laughton at the Actors Studio in New York.

Although he has never married, Pacino has had several relationships with actresses and has three children.

Early life and education[link]

Pacino was born in East Harlem, New York City to Italian American parents Rose and Salvatore Pacino, who divorced when he was two years old.^[1] When he was two, his mother moved to the South Bronx near the Bronx Zoo, to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who originated from Corleone, Sicily.^[2] His father moved to Covina, California, and worked as an insurance salesman and restaurateur.^[1] Pacino attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York.^[2] During his teenage years 'Sonny', as he was known to his friends, aimed to become a baseball player, though he was also nicknamed 'The Actor'.^[3] Pacino flunked nearly all of his classes except English and dropped out of school at 17. His mother disagreed with his decision; they had an argument and he left home. He worked at a string of low-paying jobs, including messenger boy, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, in order to finance his acting studies.^[1]

He started smoking at age nine, drinking and casual marijuana use at age thirteen, but never took hard drugs.^[4] His two closest friends died young of drug abuse at the ages of 19 and 30.^[5] Growing up in the Bronx, he got into occasional fights and was something of a troublemaker at school.^[6]

He acted in basement plays in New York's theatrical underground but was rejected for the Actors Studio while still a teenager.^[3] Pacino then joined the Herbert Berghof Studio (HB Studio), where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton, who became his mentor and best friend.^[3] During this period, he was frequently unemployed and homeless, and sometimes had to sleep on the street, in theaters, or at friends' houses.^[2][7] In 1962, his mother died at the age of 43.^[8] The following year, his grandfather, James Gerardi, one of the most influential people in his life, also died.^[1]

Actors Studio training[link]

After having spent four years at HB Studio, Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio.^[3] The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.^[9] Pacino studied "method acting"^[1] under acting coach Lee Strasberg, who later appeared with Pacino in the films The Godfather Part II and in ...And Justice for All.^[2] During later interviews he spoke about Strasberg and the Studio's effect on his career. "The Actors Studio meant so much to me in my life. Lee Strasberg hasn’t been given the credit he deserves ... Next to Charlie, it sort of launched me. It really did. That was a remarkable turning point in my life. It was directly responsible for getting me to quit all those jobs and just stay acting."^[10] During another interview he added, "It was exciting to work for him [Lee Strasberg] because he was so interesting when he talked about a scene or talked about people. One would just want to hear him talk, because things he would say, you’d never heard before ... He had such a great understanding... he loved actors so much."^[11]

Pacino is currently co-president, along with Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel, of the Actors Studio.^[9]

Stage career[link]

In 1967, Pacino spent a season at the Charles Playhouse in Boston, performing in Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! (his first major paycheck: $125 a week); and in Jean-Claude Van Itallie's America, Hurrah, where he met actress Jill Clayburgh while working on this play. They went on to have a five-year romance and moved together back to New York City.^[12]

In 1968, Pacino starred in Israel Horovitz's The Indian Wants the Bronx at the Astor Place Theater, playing Murph, a street punk. The play opened January 17, 1968, and ran for 177 performances; it was staged in a double bill with Horovitz's It's Called the Sugar Plum, starring Clayburgh. Pacino won an Obie Award for Best Actor for his role, with John Cazale winning for Best Supporting actor and Horowitz for Best New Play.^[13] Martin Bregman saw the play and offered to be Pacino's manager, a partnership that became fruitful in the years to come, as Bregman encouraged Pacino to do The Godfather, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.^[14] Pacino and this production of The Indian Wants the Bronx traveled to Italy for a performance at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. It was Pacino's first journey to Italy; he later recalled that "performing for an Italian audience was a marvelous experience".^[12] Pacino and Clayburgh were cast in "Deadly Circle of Violence", an episode of the ABC television series N.Y.P.D., premiering November 12, 1968. Clayburgh at the time was also appearing on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, playing the role of Grace Bolton. Her father would send the couple money each month to help.^[15]

On February 25, 1969, Pacino made his Broadway debut in Don Petersen's Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? at the Belasco Theater. It closed after 39 performances on March 29, 1969, but Pacino received rave reviews and won the Tony Award on April 20, 1969.^[12] Pacino continued performing onstage in the 1970s, winning a second Tony Award for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and performing the title role in Richard III.^[1] In 1980s Pacino again achieved critical success on the stage while appearing in David Mamet's American Buffalo, for which Pacino was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.^[1] Since 1990 Pacino's stage work has included revivals of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie, Oscar Wilde's Salome and in 2005 Lyle Kessler's Orphans.^[16]

Pacino made his return to the stage in summer 2010, as Shylock in a Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice.^[17] The acclaimed production transferred to Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre in October, earning US$1 million at the box office in its first week.^[18][19] The performance also garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Play.^[20]

Film career[link]

Early film career[link]

Pacino found acting to be enjoyable and realized he had a gift for it while studying at The Actors Studio. However, his early work was not financially rewarding.^[2] After his success on stage, Pacino made his movie debut in 1969 with a brief screen appearance in Me, Natalie, an independent film starring Patty Duke.^[21] In 1970, Pacino signed with the talent agency Creative Management Associates (CMA).^[12]

1970s[link]

It was the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park, in which he played a heroin addict, that brought Pacino to the attention of director Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him as Michael Corleone in the blockbuster Mafia film The Godfather (1972). Although several established actors – including Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, and then little-known Robert De Niro – also tried out for the part, Coppola selected the relatively unknown Pacino, much to the dismay of studio executives.^[2] Pacino was even teased on the set because of his short stature. Pacino's performance earned him an Academy Award nomination, and offered a prime example of his early acting style, described by Halliwell's Film Guide as "intense" and "tightly clenched". Pacino boycotted the Academy Award ceremony, as he was insulted at being nominated for the Supporting Acting award, noting that he had more screen time than costar and Best Actor winner Marlon Brando – who was himself boycotting the awards.^[22]

In 1973, he co-starred in Scarecrow, with Gene Hackman, and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. That same year Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor after starring in Serpico, based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico, who went undercover to expose the corruption of fellow officers.^[22] In 1974, Pacino reprised his role as Michael Corleone in the sequel The Godfather Part II, which became the first sequel to win the Best Picture Oscar; Pacino, meanwhile, was nominated for his third Oscar.^[22] Newsweek has described his performance in the film as "arguably cinema's greatest portrayal of the hardening of a heart".^[23] In 1975, he enjoyed further success with the release of Dog Day Afternoon, based on the true story of bank robber John Wojtowicz.^[2] It was directed by Sidney Lumet, who also directed him in Serpico a few years earlier, and Pacino was again nominated for Best Actor.^[24]

In 1977, Pacino starred as a race-car driver in Bobby Deerfield, directed by Sydney Pollack, and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama for his portrayal of the title role, losing out to Richard Burton, who won for Equus. His next film was the courtroom drama ...And Justice for All, which again saw Pacino lauded by critics for his wide range of acting abilities, and nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for a fourth time.^[24] However he lost out that year to Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer — a role that Pacino had declined.^[24]

During the 1970s, Pacino had four Oscar nominations for Best Actor, for his performances in Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and ...And Justice for All.^[2]

1980s[link]

Pacino's career slumped in the early 1980s; his appearances in the controversial Cruising, a film which provoked protests from New York's gay community,^[25] and the comedy-drama Author! Author! were critically panned.^[1] However, 1983's Scarface, directed by Brian De Palma, proved to be a career highlight and a defining role.^[2] Upon its initial release, the film was critically panned,^[26] but did fairly well at the box office, grossing over US$45 million domestically.^[27] Pacino earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Cuban drug lord Tony Montana.^[28]

In 1985, Pacino worked on his personal project, The Local Stigmatic, a 1969 Off Broadway play by the English writer Heathcote Williams. He starred in the play, remounting it with director David Wheeler and the Theater Company of Boston in a 50-minute film version. The film was never released theatrically but was later released as part of the Pacino: An Actor's Vision box set in 2007.^[2]

His 1985 film Revolution about a fur trapper during the American Revolutionary War, was a commercial and critical failure, which Pacino blamed on a rushed production,^[29] resulting in a four-year hiatus from films. During this time Pacino returned to the stage. He mounted workshop productions of Crystal Clear, National Anthems and other plays; he appeared in Julius Caesar in 1988 in producer Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. Pacino remarked on his hiatus from film: "I remember back when everything was happening, '74, '75, doing The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui on stage and reading that the reason I'd gone back to the stage was that my movie career was waning! That's been the kind of ethos, the way in which theater's perceived, unfortunately."^[30] Pacino returned to film in 1989's Sea of Love,^[2] in which he portrayed a detective hunting a serial killer who finds victims through the singles column in a newspaper. The film earned solid reviews.^[31]

1990s[link]

Al Pacino at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.

Pacino received an Academy Award nomination for playing Big Boy Caprice in the box office hit Dick Tracy in 1990, in which critic Roger Ebert wrote that Pacino is "the scene-stealer".^[32] Later in the year he followed this up by a return to one of his most famous characters, Michael Corleone, in The Godfather Part III (1990).^[2] The film received mixed reviews, and had problems during pre-production due to script rewrites and the withdrawal of actors shortly before production. In 1991, Pacino starred in Frankie and Johnny with Michelle Pfeiffer, who co-starred with Pacino in Scarface. Pacino portrays a recently paroled cook who begins a relationship with a waitress (Pfeiffer) in the diner he works in. It was adapted by Terrence McNally from his own Off-Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (1987), which featured Kenneth Welsh and Kathy Bates. The film received mixed reviews, although Pacino later said he enjoyed playing the part.^[33] Janet Maslin in The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Pacino has not been this uncomplicatedly appealing since his "Dog Day Afternoon" days, and he makes Johnny's endless enterprise in wooing Frankie a delight. His scenes alone with Ms. Pfeiffer have a precision and honesty that keep the film's maudlin aspects at bay."^[34]

In 1992, Pacino won the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the blind U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Martin Brest's Scent of a Woman.^[2] That year, he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Glengarry Glen Ross, making Pacino the first male actor ever to receive two acting nominations for two different movies in the same year, and to win for the lead role.^[2]

Pacino starred alongside Sean Penn in the crime drama Carlito's Way in 1993, in which he portrayed a gangster who is released from prison with the help of his lawyer (Penn) and vows to go straight. Pacino starred in Michael Mann's Heat (1995), in which he and Robert De Niro appeared on-screen together for the first time (though both Pacino and De Niro starred in The Godfather Part II, they did not share any scenes).^[2]

In 1996, Pacino starred in his theatrical docudrama Looking for Richard, which is both a performance of selected scenes of William Shakespeare's Richard III and a broader examination of Shakespeare's continuing role and relevance in popular culture. The cast brought together for the performance included Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and Winona Ryder. Pacino played Satan in the supernatural thriller The Devil's Advocate (1997) which co-starred Keanu Reaves. The film was a success at the box office, taking US$150 million worldwide.^[35] Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, ‘The satanic character is played by Pacino with relish bordering on glee.’^[36] In Donnie Brasco Pacino played mafia gangster "Lefty", in the true story of undercover FBI agent Donnie Brasco (Johnny Depp) and his work in bringing down the mafia from the inside. Pacino also starred as real life 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman in the multi-Oscar nominated The Insider opposite Russell Crowe, before starring in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday in 1999.

2000s[link]

Al Pacino at the Rome Film Festival in 2008.

Pacino has not received another nomination from the Academy since Scent of a Woman, but won two Golden Globes since the year 2000, the first being the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2001 for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.^[37]

In 2000, Pacino released a low budget film adaptation of Ira Lewis' play Chinese Coffee to film festivals.^[38] Shot almost exclusively as a one-on-one conversation between the two main characters, the project took almost three years to complete and it was funded entirely by Pacino.^[38] Chinese Coffee was included along with Pacino's two other rare films he has been involved in producing, The Local Stigmatic and Looking for Richard, on a special DVD boxset titled Pacino: An Actor's Vision which was released in 2007. Pacino produced prologues and epilogues for the discs containing the films.^[39]

Pacino turned down an offer to reprise his role as Michael Corleone in the computer game version of The Godfather. As a result, Electronic Arts was not permitted to use Pacino's likeness or voice in the game, although his character does appear in it. He did allow his likeness to appear in the video game adaptation of the remake of 1983's Scarface, titled Scarface: The World is Yours.^[40]

Director Christopher Nolan worked with Pacino for Insomnia, a remake of the Norwegian film of the same name, co-starring Robin Williams. Newsweek stated that "he [Pacino] can play small as rivetingly as he can play big, that he can implode as well as explode".^[41] The film and Pacino's performance were well-received, gaining a favorable rating of 92 percent on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.^[42] The film did moderately well at the box office, taking in $113 million dollars worldwide.^[43] His next film, S1m0ne, was one that Pacino liked, but which did not gain much critical praise or box office success.^[44]

He played the part of a publicist in People I Know, a small film that received little attention despite Pacino's well-received performance.^[45] Rarely taking a supporting role since his commercial breakthrough, he accepted a small part in the box office flop Gigli in 2003 as a favor to director Martin Brest.^[45] The Recruit, released in 2003, featured Pacino as a CIA recruiter and co-stars Colin Farrell. The film received mostly negative reviews,^[46] and was described by Pacino as something he "personally couldn't follow".^[45] Pacino next starred as lawyer Roy Cohn in the 2003 HBO miniseries Angels in America, an adaptation of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name.^[2] For this performance, Pacino won his third Golden Globe, for Best Performance by an Actor, in 2004.^[47]

Pacino starred as Shylock in Michael Radford's 2004 film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, choosing to bring compassion and depth to a character traditionally played as a villainous caricature.^[48] In Two for the Money, Pacino portrays a sports gambling agent and mentor for Matthew McConaughey, alongside Rene Russo. The film was released on October 8, 2005 and received mixed reviews.^[49] Desson Thomson wrote in The Washington Post, "Al Pacino has played the mentor so many times, he ought to get a kingmaker's award (...) the fight between good and evil feels fixed in favor of Hollywood redemption."^[50]

On October 20, 2006, the American Film Institute named Pacino the recipient of the 35th AFI Life Achievement Award.^[51] On November 22, 2006, the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin awarded Pacino the Honorary Patronage of the Society.^[52]

Pacino starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean's Thirteen alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould and Andy García as the villain Willy Bank, a casino tycoon targeted by Danny Ocean and his crew. The film received generally favorable reviews.^[53]

88 Minutes was released on April 18, 2008 in the United States, having already been released in various other countries in 2007. The film co-starred Alicia Witt and was critically panned,^[54] although critics found the fault to be in the plot instead of Pacino's acting.^[55] In Righteous Kill, Pacino and Robert De Niro co-star as New York detectives searching for a serial killer; rapper 50 Cent also stars in it. The film was released to theaters on September 12, 2008. Although it was an anticipated return for the two stars, it was not well received by critics.^[56] Lou Lumenick of The New York Post gave Righteous Kill one star out of four, saying: "Al Pacino and Robert De Niro collect bloated paychecks with intent to bore in Righteous Kill, a slow-moving, ridiculous police thriller that would have been shipped straight to the remainder bin at Blockbuster if it starred anyone else."^[57]

2010s[link]

Pacino played Dr. Jack Kevorkian in an HBO Films biopic entitled You Don't Know Jack, which premiered April 2010. The film is about the life and work of the physician-assisted suicide advocate. The performance earned Pacino his second Emmy Award^[58] for lead actor^[59] and his fourth Golden Globe award.^[28]

Pacino and Robert De Niro are reportedly set to star in the upcoming project The Irishman, that will be directed by Martin Scorsese and co-star Joe Pesci.^[60] He's also filming a biographical picture about Phil Spector.^[61]

It was announced in May 2011 that Pacino was to be honored with the "Glory to the Film-maker" award at the 68th Venice International Film Festival.^[62] The award will be presented ahead of the premier of his film Wilde Salome, which is the third film Pacino has directed.^[62] Pacino, who plays the role of Herod in the film, describes it as his "most personal project ever".^[62]

The United States premiere of Wilde Salomé took place on the evening of March 21, 2012, before a full house at the 1,400-seat Castro Theatre in San Francisco's Castro District. Marking the 130th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's visit to San Francisco, the event was a benefit for the GLBT Historical Society.^[63][64][65]

Personal life[link]

Although he has never married, Pacino has three children. The eldest, Julie Marie (born 1989), is his daughter with acting coach Jan Tarrant. He also has twins, son Anton James and daughter Olivia Rose (born 2001), with actress Beverly D'Angelo, with whom he had a relationship from 1996 until 2003.^[66][67] Pacino had a relationship with Diane Keaton, his co-star in the Godfather Trilogy. The on-again, off-again relationship ended following the filming of The Godfather Part III. ^[68] Other women he has had relationships with include Tuesday Weld, Marthe Keller, Kathleen Quinlan and Lyndall Hobbs.^[39]

The Internal Revenue Service filed a tax lien against Pacino claiming he owes the government $169,143.06 in 2008 and $19,140.44 in 2009 for a total of $188,283.50. A representative for Pacino blamed his former business manager Kenneth Starr for the discrepancy.^[69]

Filmography[link]

Video game[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Pacino has been nominated and has won many awards during his acting career including eight Oscar nominations (winning one), 15 Golden Globe nominations (winning four), five BAFTA nominations (winning two), two Emmy Awards for his work on Television and two Tony Awards for his work on the Stage. In 2007 the American Film Institute awarded Pacino with a lifetime achievement award and in 2003 British television viewers voted Pacino as the greatest film star of all time in a poll for Channel 4.^[80]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Grobel, Lawrence (2006). Al Pacino: The Authorized Biography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-9497-1. 

External links[link]

	Book: Al Pacino
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.