Al Pacino

24:50Then you're safe. You're all right. So you shoot that scene. They send that scene to Paramount, to the suits back in L.A., and they go, oh, okay. Well, you have to understand one thing, because after I shoot these two guys, who I really love, by the way, and I shoot them and I'm running out and I sort of drop the gun and I go into the street and jump in the moving car. Right. So they didn't have a stuntman for me there, or they didn't, they didn't want me to, maybe they assumed that I would jump and get hurt and I'd be out of the film. just coming to me now that's an old Coppola trick he put me in a film it wasn't working out and they threw me out of a car that's gotta go into the box of resentment but anyway I did miss the car what?

25:47yeah and I fell it's in the book we forget those things I saw that yeah so I fell and I was I was hurt kind of my ankle was hurt somehow It slipped. The car had one of those side things that you could jump on and then jump in. So I was just looking up at the sky, and I said, thank you, God. This was my thought. I actually said, thank you, God. You're going to get me out of this film. Unbelievable. That's how much I wanted to leave it. I said, this is from heaven. Yeah. and people just all got around me and they said he's hurt yeah so I said oh yeah and then they put one of these big fat needles in my ankle so I could finish the day and they kept me they kept me because they saw the rushes of that of that scene and they knew and what's so amazing is movie comes out and this is this surprised me movie comes out it's a phenomenon I remember it it was 1972 I would have been nine years old at the time.

26:57All anybody did was talk about that movie. People quoted it. It was, I mean, it just, it's hard to describe today what a huge cultural moment it was. And you in the book talk about how uncomfortable you were. Yeah. You know, it's the thing, we live in this society now where everybody wants to be famous. And people would think, oh my God, if I could be a young Al Pacino who's just done The Godfather, oh my God, would I tear up the town? You hide. You don't love it. And you're drinking a lot. I think it was that period, that time of life when this wasn't in our social understanding. We didn't care about fame.

27:40As a matter of fact, it was somewhat in the Hollywood somewhat was frowned upon in the theater, by the way. And they gave us this great entertainment, these great actors on the screen. But it was a kind of folklore for us. If you go to Hollywood, you lose your talent and something like that. Yeah. That spread around. But also, I was extremely, I was a bit embarrassed because I heard something about Kerouac. You know Jack Kerouac? Yeah, of course, yeah. So he goes and he drinks his life away because he felt this embarrassment. I don't know where that comes from, self-esteem, whatever. But I felt I didn't want to be noticed.

28:28Part of my thing was I just wanted to creep around, you know, just do my thing. And so one time I'm at a light, actually, and I'm at a traffic light, and I'm standing there across the street in this kind of gorgeous, you know, redhead. I'm sorry, it wasn't you, but it was another redhead. I'm a man. Excuse me. I'm about as much man as it gets. You're still a gorgeous redhead. I'm a gorgeous redhead, though. Yeah, she didn't look like you. I'd just be straight with you. It ruins the story. It ruins the story if it looks like me. So she says hello to me. She says, hi. I thought, oh, wow. I said, wow, hi.

29:10She says, hi, Michael. And it was as though I said, this is crazy. She's calling me Michael because she knows me. She knows me from the film. And I just retreated. I couldn't understand that. Nobody did that to me. My entire life, nobody responded. Oh, wow. You know, they never said that. No, they said, get away, you know. So I was kind of shocked, and I retreated. And then I start seeing it happen throughout, you know, in these various pockets. There's people, you know, a woman kissing my hand, people treating me. And my friend Charlie's there, and the woman comes up to me and says, Is that Al Pacino?

29:59He says, Yeah, yeah. She says, Is that Al Pacino? He says, Well, somebody's got to be, you know. Yeah, fame is, it freaked you out. It freaked you out. You Al Pacino? I said, yeah. He says, congratulations, you look like your order.

30:19You do look very Al Pacino-y. I thought so today. I was like, that guy reeks of Al Pacino. You know, it's funny because then you have what I think is any actor would give their left arm for, this string of, you know, it's Serpico, it's Dog Day Afternoon, those performances, I watched those performances and they're so electric and you had this energy. There's this energy that comes off of you, which it still does, by the way, but there's almost electrical manic energy that comes out of you, out of your eyes, out of your, I mean, I was watching Dog Day Afternoon the other day and And just you can tell that you're so inhabited by that role and by that moment.

31:05And after all these years, it's still spectacular. But you have this string, this string that's just unprecedented. And I'm reading about it in the book. And the whole time you're, you feel very detached from it. Like you're not reveling and going, yep. I mean, I'd be out on the street going, yep, that's me. See that guy up there? That's me. Frequently are. Frequently are. And the sad thing is I'm pointing at you. Al Pacino, that's me. See? And then I go to the hospital and I get treatment. But you have this string and it leads to more drinking, more drugs, more unhappiness, more feeling of being disconnected.

31:44Which I have to say surprised me. I wasn't aware. Yeah. Well, it hit me. It just did. I felt the kind of isolation from it. You know, I often talked about it as something like one has to earn one's relationships with friends and stuff. You're with people because you like being with them. You know, you share the same thoughts about things. But if I entered a room and all of a sudden what I had to say became important or, you know, they all were looking and letting me talk. And I sort of never had that experience. And it was uncomfortable. Right. And I thought, well, we don't even know each other yet.

32:31And so to adjust to that, that's the—I've heard it said before, people adjusting to being famous and being accepted wherever you go. And so I remember—I don't know if I told the story about— Marty Bregman, of course, was my producer. He produced it. You guys did so much together. Yeah, we did. And so, oh, my God, I'm sorry about this. That's okay. That might be for me a big deal. No, it's not. Yes. So, hi, honey. Hi, baby. I can't talk now. I'm with Conan O 'Brien. Yes! Yeah, hear it? Yes! I'll be finished in a minute. Sorry, Conan. No, I'm just joking. I can't believe you call a couple of honey.

33:20This is my daughter. Oh, that's your daughter. Okay, okay. I'm glad. She's got a new apartment. You're not the superintendent, are you? I fixed the pipe. I could be. I gotta talk to her first. I love it. There's still a couple of people in that building who still think Al is the superintendent. I'll be there. I'll be there. I'll fix it. It's steam heat. It takes a while. Give it a second. You know what's crazy to me is, and again, I was unaware of this, but you have this Scarface. You make Scarface, and it is, at the time, critics are savage about it, and it has since become, in a lot of ways, I mean, financially, your biggest movie.

34:13It's huge, and it has this kind of enduring place in the culture, which nobody could have seen at the time. Is that fair to say? That's fair to say, too. It's true. It seems like it is always there. There's a guy wrote the Scarface Papers. I don't know if you've ever heard of that book, but it explains some of the stuff about its consistency and why it's still around. And we got a lot of help from hip-hop and from the rappers early on and the college kids. And then other things started happening. And then we went into that VHS. That started to catch the VHS. And that's what blew it up. And then it went across, you know, went over the ocean into Europe and Asia and everywhere.

35:05And so it's like this thing. It's fascinating because it's so— You know, Oliver Stone wrote this script. Yeah. Brian De Palma directed it, and they hit something. Nobody could be more different than the three of us. And Bragman, yeah, we were just three different planets. And there we were. And somehow it just made it work for some reason. You know, Brian De Palma threw Oliver Stone off the set. He couldn't be there, you know. and having it was that kind of thing. But it's a beautiful script when you read it and when you see what Brian has done with it. You know, what's amazing is, because I didn't know this, this was in the book, one of your big contributions was you knew that Tony has to have, he's Scarface, he's got to have a scar, and you said you thought of the idea that it should come across the eyebrow.

36:06and you said in the book you did that because you thought that that showed chaos yes and i thought i read that and i thought yes it does that's fantastic you don't know what you're gonna get this is it's disconcerting i don't know how you thought of that but the fact that an eyebrow is cut in two is on a level very disconcerting yes in a subtle way that you didn't get a giant you You didn't do that. And it led me back to it's a theme in your book. I don't know if this is conscious or unconscious. I know you've done a lot of therapy, but it does feel to me like there's some part of you that likes chaos.

36:43Oh, come on, of course. I mean, without chaos, where are we? Are we floating? I love thinking. Where are we? Yeah. No, but the kind of chaos, you know, it's—that's why I always ride the 5 p.m. subway in New York. I like the version of it. You sit around, like, here they go, you know, when the door's open, you know. It sort of gives you a lift, you know. You just feel, oh, I'm alive and it's coming. I don't have anywhere to go, though. I shouldn't be doing this. I don't want you on the five o 'clock subway anymore. I'm going to come with you. They'll be like, Al Pacino's with that gorgeous redhead.

37:31You know, it's funny. You know what shocked me is, again, and I think I speak for a lot of us when I think, type up, put your name in, and you're just going to see one of the great, if not the most influential actors, blah, blah, blah, blah. You, in the 80s, hit a cold spot. You talk about it in the book. Yeah. and you think, well, my movie career is over. And you are kind of out of it for a little bit. You're trying to do some theater and stuff. But that's shocking to me now because that wasn't something. You felt it. You lived it. Well, I thought, I don't know what's going on. I thought, I don't want to be doing this anymore.

38:10There's something going on. Things are not working. Scarface was such a disaster. And when I thought it was, you know, it was a good film. I mean, it was going to work, but it didn't. And it actually made money. It was the critics sort of took a dislike to it. But at the same time, I just didn't know. I didn't want to do it anymore. I thought, well, let's refresh and let's go back and do some of the things that I started with. That fed you. Things like theater. Of course. Getting there, being connected to people, get away from this stuff. Talking through things, pieces of work, you know, whether it's Oedipus or whatever, you know.

38:57Because, you know, when you do those kind of plays, they're always in translation, of course. Translation means everything. Who's the translator? And so spending time with that stuff, whether you're doing Chekhov or Strindberg or some of the great plays, American plays, you know. So I liked getting involved, and that's what happens at the actor's studio. You're able, that's what we do there. And so I did a movie called Looking for Richard after that. I was going to bring this, this is what I was going to bring up. And I was going to bring this up for a reason. You did this project called Looking for Richard, and it's about Richard III, and it's so many things.

39:36It's a fascinating movie because you see different performances of Richard III, interpretations of it throughout the film. but you do something that I have some familiarity with which is a big part of my career has been leaving the studio getting a camera finding real people and trying to make something happen yeah and I love that part it terrifies me but I love it and it's been I don't know maybe 70 % of the work that I've done that people really like is that kind of work where I'm out there doing this stuff and things are happening in real time. A big part of Looking for Richard, there's a thread that runs through it where it's you on the street talking to people about what does Shakespeare mean to you?

40:22And you are so quick and funny and vulnerable. And I was watching that part going like, damn it, he's good at that. I mean, that's the one thing that I can relate to of all of your work is going out there with a camera and I was blown away. You're talking to people, you're getting them to talk about Shakespeare, you're on the streets of New York, you talk to some young kid and you say, what do you think of Hamlet? He goes, Hamlet sucks. Hamlet sucks! But it's wonderful. It's fantastic. It's you out there and what I love is you keep stripping it all away and saying, let's lose all this yeah, yeah, yeah, Oscar iconic films Well, let's lose all that.

41:05I'm going to put on a baseball cap backwards, and I'm going to walk through the streets and talk to people about Shakespeare, and we're going to get our hands dirty. And that, I mean, I know that that project meant a lot to you. I was sort of driven to that by having what you had just said, that you want to have a piece of yourself in this. You're tired of just doing stuff that's not giving you what you need in your creative gene we have, and it's just not being supplied with stuff because it happens for everybody. Other actors, too. You know, that's why some actors, I talk about that in the book, will repeat roles because they scored in them and they did well in them and they continue to do well in them.

41:56But they're capable of doing much more. And it's hard to grow if you don't keep challenging yourself. You've got to challenge yourself. That's why I like chaos. Yeah. Well, you're in the right place. I certainly am. And that's why I looked at you when I said that too. I, the other day, I wanted my son, who's 18, to see, I wanted him to see real acting, real writing. So I said, come with me. My wife was out of town. It sounds like I'm gonna show him pornography, but that was, but no. She's out of town. This is an old, this is a movie. This is called, Te Beats Dallas. No, I showed him the movie, Glen Gary, Glen Ross.

42:44and he's riveted i'm riveted it's such an incredible cast the whole thing and the next morning i go and he's blown away and i'm like okay you get it that's that's that's and he loved it and the next morning i go to get breakfast and i run smack into david mammoth and wow uh yeah and I said, hey, last night, and he was like, please, leave me alone. No, no, he's always been very wonderful when I run into him, but I could just tell, all of you were so great in that film, but your character so intimidates me. He's charming, but he's intimidating at the same time, you know? And it's, you've got this, I don't know, that's one of my favorite performances, too.

43:32Absolutely incredible performance. I thought Jack Lemmon, as time goes on, he really steps out in that part. Jack Lemmon. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, my. I tried doing that part in New York on Broadway, doing Jack's part. Yeah. Because they did a production. You were Richie Roma. I was Richie Roma. Yeah, in the film. But then you switched and you did his part on Broadway. On Broadway. And I did his part. And I thought I could do his part somewhat. It's a good part. Let me try that. It's so totally different than Richie Roma. So I started it, but I didn't realize this is Mamet, and you have to have time to, you know, acquire the taste and be able to live through this part.

44:18And we had three weeks rehearsal, and I didn't have any lines that I was able to say, you know. But at the same time, I realized how great Jack Lemmon was in this role. And I thought, wow, I should have watched it before I did it. But I didn't know where I was on Broadway. And that's a tough thing to go through. But I did remember that I said, look, I don't know what to do here because there's times I don't know what the lines are. This is Mamet now. It's like rewriting Shakespeare. But I started saying things that came to me. That's my new thing, which, you know, we go through various phases.

45:02We go a little nuts. And then we start doing nutty things. And sometimes things come out of that, you know. Oh, I'm familiar. You get a little cherry, you know. But you start ad-libbing Mammoth. So now, yeah, I thought, I don't know why I can't get this monologue at all. I can't get it. And I don't know how it's written in a certain way. So I said, I'm going to start saying my old words here. Say the monologue. and the actors with me were so great. I mean, they were right with it. And I didn't even say things on the street. Then I started dancing on the street. It's in here. You started doing soft shoes.

45:36Soft shoe in the middle of the play. And then I, because I'm a real believer in we have things with acting that all of a sudden the unconscious comes out. You free yourself so your unconscious starts to, you know, express itself. And I was walking down the street after I realized that I did what I did. And I said, why did I do that? And then I said, wait a minute. My dad, who I didn't know much, you know that. He left early. But he was a salesman. He was a salesman. And he was a great ballroom dancer. So you think you maybe channeled him a little bit? I channeled him. Of course I did. Don't yell at me.

46:18How come you don't know that? You see what I mean? You've got to get out there, Conan. Oh, my God. Express yourself. No, but it was interesting. But there's another thing. I'm doing a play, a Shakespeare play at the public theater. And I'm tired. And, you know, all of a sudden you're doing eight performances a week. Who invented that? That's the worst thing that could ever happen to anybody. It ruins all actors. And I'm doing eight performances. And I'm not doing really well. So I'm doing it, but I'm getting through it. And with me, everything is time. I believe that's why I love the theater so much, because it's time.

47:01I mean, I did American Buffalo over four years. I did movies in between. But by the fourth year, I didn't have to do anything when I went on stage. It was in your bones. It was in your bones. It entered the bones. But I'm doing Shakespeare, and I have this huge monologue talking to a lot of people, and I'm tired, but it's maybe a matinee on Saturday or Sunday, I don't know, and I'm talking, and I'm talking, and I start thinking, wait a minute, I'm repeating myself. Every line I'm saying, I've said right before, so I'm saying it twice. And I said, oh my God, and I'm saying the lines, to me, I'm saying them twice, And I'm thinking the audience is being friendly.

47:52They're sort of scared because they think, I think this actor is losing it. I think we're going to have to carry him somewhere and take him to a hospital afterwards. He's crazy. And I got really scared. And then it took me a while to recover. I don't know if I ever did. But at the end of the show, I didn't. I wasn't doing that. But it felt like it. Oh. This is what exhaustion on the stage means. You know, I mean, it really is, especially with the big roles. You know, so I just refused to do that. And then I just said, don't pay me. Don't pay me and I'll do six a week. Right. Now I do like three.

48:35Right. Don't tell anyone. You know, one of the things, there is a thing that happened where because Robert De Niro came along at the same time and he's in Godfather 2 and you talk about it in the book, there was always this Pacino, De Niro, De Niro, Pacino and you said you guys were always friendly. You admired each other's work. Yeah. You boosted each other but of course, the media likes to try and make it something and you say in the book, I think it's just because both of our names ended in a vowel that they... That would help. They should throw in Dustin Hoffman but his name... Didn't ring about it.

49:16well they changed it at Ellis Island from Hoffman Oh yeah but I'm just curious like uh you finally first time you work together you have it uh is in heat and you have that scene and I god that's another movie I've seen a thousand times and we'll see a thousand more but you have that scene in the diner which is such a great idea where you just pull over De Niro he's the bad guy you're the good guy you're the cop he's the robber let's talk and the two of you sit down and it's such a spectacular scene and in the book you reveal that de niro said let's not rehearse let's just do it no rehearsal yeah and it's a it's one of my favorite scenes no he was right thinking that way it was it was perfect i mean to to do it that way these guys yeah and what a great idea to have the two characters let's take a second let's sit sit down and tell each other who we are and then we will shake hands and go back to trying to kill each other yeah which is a beautiful like you know what i mean yeah it's a beautiful idea yeah that i thought was just uh yeah and the fact that you just did it that's is that the one take or do you did it many times oh many this is michael mann directing oh okay you get to do it many times yeah you were there for six years.

50:36Yeah. You had long beards at the end. They're doing a take later. I'd like to do this again. When I come in, can I do it? Let's check. No, as Michael Chekhov said, the great acting empresario, he was, the actress comes in the door and says, oh, Dr. Maestro, I really want to be an actress. You know, I really want it. I want it so much. He says, yes. go outside, come in again, and do the same thing, and I'll tell you if you could be an actress. Wow. Can you do it? Yeah. I wanted to slap him in the face for doing that. That is so pompous and assholey. Don't do that. I don't know. I was thinking, yeah.

51:27Yeah. But I'm kind of an asshole. No, somehow it works. Asshole just came in my head just now while I was saying it. I said, it sounds, when I first heard it, I thought, a lot of truth in that. But now I'm an old fellow, and I think it's disconcerting, to be honest with you. I've gone so far in my brain. Are you able, after writing this book now, to write another? I am really ready. It'll be about this show. How could I not? Yeah. I'm just curious if you are able to now look back. This process had, you have to be able to look back now and go, Jesus Christ. What a, what a ride. What, I mean, and I'm Al Pacino.

52:23I'll tell you the truth. I was doing it, doing it, working on it, working with some good people, and they devoted myself to whatever I did. But as soon as I finished it, I didn't want to look at it anymore. I thought it was done. It was over. I said, you know, it's like when I did Looking for Richard, I would sit in. They had these audiences would come in. I don't know what you call them again. Test audiences. Test audiences. And they would write it. And I'd be sitting there, and I was thinking, I don't want them to come. We're not ready. The film was at the editing room, by the way. I thought somehow from the editing room to the theater where it was going to play, someone would change it and make it better.

53:15And then I wanted to tell them. Remember that in the book? I wanted to tell them, you know, I was just, listen, don't take this seriously. I was just trying to put something together. I mean, it's fine. I'm just trying. You don't have to stay. You don't have to go. You don't say that to a test audience. You don't. You shouldn't probably see this. This was a mistake. You should go now. I don't think this is for you. You know? There's a nugget in this book that is so, it's such a great visual that I just had to bring it up to you, which is the moment where you're making the godfather and Coppola says, you should talk to Brando.

53:59You know, you guys should get to know each other a little bit. And you're shooting the scene in the hospital where you go and you end up saving Vito's life. But he says, you should go talk to him. So they arrange for you guys to have lunch together in one of those hospital rooms. And you said, it's such a great picture. You're not saying much. Brando's talking to you. And the whole time he's talking, he's eating chicken cacciatore with a lot of sauce. with his hands. What? With his hands. And he's talking to you and you... And then at the end, he says like, kid, I think you're going to be okay.

54:31I think you're going to be all right. And then you describe what he... You're wondering the whole time. He doesn't have a napkin. His hands are covered. I'm wondering what I should do with that chicken ketchup. I got mesmer. Didn't hear anything he said. Yeah, yeah.

54:47He's probably giving you the greatest acting advice ever. And you're like, He is. That looks like it's got extra Parmesan. It has. But then you describe what he does. His hands are covered in sauce, and you're like, he doesn't have a napkin. Yeah, so he doesn't have a napkin, so he puts his hands on the bed sheet of the hospital, wipe bed sheet, and wipes them on that. Oh, my God. I mean, it's such a bad thing. No, no, no, but it's funny. You had to be there. I would do it, too, today. No, no, but you know what's so funny? They send me to lunch, and you don't give me napkins? That's simple. But you know what's so funny, Al, what's so funny is in the book, you were like, you see him and he finishes and he sees he's on this white bed and he does that and you went, that's a movie star.

55:30Exactly. That's a movie star. Well, this will work. Is that what movie stars do? I'm going to be one, man, baby. I got to be one of those. No, he was the greatest person you ever wanted to know. Did you get to know him well? Oh, well, of course, I was with him a lot. You know, just being around him, there's such warmth to him. I mean, he's so sensitive. of how he sees you, especially other actors. He was so wonderful to me and everybody and funny, but he was particularly funny with Jimmy Conn because the two of them had done films together. So he was... Comfortable with Jimmy Conn. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

56:05Much more. And I was always sort of sulking somewhere.

56:11I never knew if I was coming or going. You know, I was always just like there somehow saying, okay, I got away with that. What's next? But one of the last things he said to me, I was on 79th Street outside in the summertime, wherever it was, along Columbus Avenue. I don't remember the restaurant or whatever, but I was out there by myself and he called me and I said, he wanted something. I said, sure. And then he said, Al, You know, Al, stay out of court. I said, he knew me. I can't go to court. I can't go to court. Now I'm going to go to court, I'm sure. Just cut this out. Stay out of court? What are you talking about?

57:04That was his advice to you was stay out of court. It was like he meant divorce court. Oh, I see. See, that's what he meant. I see. Yes, yes. Well, that's a good idea. I think it's a good idea. I love that. here's the big tip from Marlon Brando. The, um, I could, uh, unfortunately for you, talk to you for 40 hours and never be happy, but I want to let you go. Oh, you're throwing me out. No, no, I'm not throwing you out. This reminds me actually of, I said at the beginning, I don't really get starstruck. I've met everybody not long ago. I'm, uh, I'm in New York on business. Someone says, Hey, come with me, go to dinner.

57:44I think we go to Polo Bar and I'm walking out and I see, out of the corner of my eye, an iconic figure and I look and you are sitting in a big banquette and you're by yourself. I think you had worth people, but they had just used the bathroom or something. And you're just sitting there and you point. And I think he's pointing at someone. And I do the classic thing of I look behind me and you go, you, you, and you go, come here. And I go, me? So I go over and you go, Conan, how are you? I won't tell you how much I love you. I really do. Well, you know, it's so crazy. So I'm talking to you and I'm just thinking the whole time, because you talk about this a lot in your book, how you always think, I got to get out of here and no one really wants to see me.

58:30So you're talking to me and you're telling me, you know, about you're going to show The Godfather, you're going to show it up at somewhere in Northern Manhattan. They're going to have a big screening of it. And you're talking to me and I said, that's such an honor to see you, such an honor to see you. And I - You're talking too much, Al. Yeah. No, no, no, you weren't. I was just thought, Conan, don't overstay your welcome. He just wanted to say hi, get out. So I say, such an honor, you take care, Al. And I leave. The next day, by pure coincidence, I run into one of the people who had just joined you at the table.

59:03And they said, I just got there and you were walking away. And Al went, what happened? He fled. And I was just thinking, I don't, it's Al Pacino. Don't fuck this up. Get away. But the next time I see you, and I'm going to follow you and see you, and I'm going to haunt you, I'm going to sit down. Okay? Okay. You don't seem thrilled about it. No, you're going too far. You're going to get salazzoed. I've got to use the bathroom. We'll be back with a gun. The book is Sunny Boy. It's the best thing I've read in a long time. Everyone's going to read it. Everyone's going to buy it. And I'm blessed to know you.

59:43I really am. Oh, me too to you. Thank you for being here. God bless. I'm so happy I did your show. I really am. Thank you. Oh, this is, I mean, I'm done now. This is my last podcast. Thank you. Oh, no, don't go that far. Okay. Please. Thank you, sir.

1:00:07Well, Al Pacino was just here. Let's just. That was incredible. Yeah. He's my favorite actor. Oh, he's an actor. Oh, my God. You're like, who is this man? No, he is my favorite actor of all time. And I was just so electrified that he came in. And he was so fantastic. It was so much fun. And I remembered just before the interview, we had this big talk. Because I think people were a little on edge today. Yeah. Well, it's a big day. It's a big day. You don't know what you're getting. Aaron Blair wore a blazer. Whoa. And look at him. Thank you. Which is, and listen, to be fair, I read his book and loved it.

1:00:50I was re-watching movies. I was thinking a lot about Mr. Pacino, Al. I was really preparing for this. And yeah, it's called preparing. I was going to say, I am preparing. You familiar? Okay. You didn't just walk in here and just wing it? Okay. It depends. I'm Conan. I like to be prepared. It depends, you know, who it is. You know, when it's the cast of Selling the O.C., maybe I wing it. I'm shocked. Can't wait for that. Shocked you know that. Oh, my God. You have no idea what I know. But when it's Al Pacino, I don't need to prepare because I feel like I know his career cold, but I really wanted to read the book and think about it.

1:01:30And everyone was a little, everybody was in a slightly different mode today. I could tell. There's also 40 more people than is ever here, too. Yeah. It was really something. Suddenly people are here who've never here before. Like, I'm here to fix the cigarette machine. We don't have a cigarette machine. And that was De Niro. Yeah, yeah, it was De Niro. And so we, but then we get in here and we start talking about like, let's not make him wear a head, you know, headset. Like we always do with people. What's just, but then we get into this classic conversation that we've had many times with Eduardo because these are directional mics.

1:02:07Eduardo, I give it up for you. You're a brilliant guy. You built this place. Thank you. You did a wonderful job. Sometimes you're a little, and for a reason, these are directional mics. Correct. But you want everyone's lips to be on mic. Yes. No, he just wants people to be on mic. Yeah, he just wants people to talk into the microphone. I understand, but... Thank you, guys. When the police are trying to bug an apartment, they put a little bug, you know, up in the lamp, and then they hear them saying, yeah, yeah, we'll kill him, yeah, and then they arrest them. That's why it's never admissible in court because it's like...

1:02:41Well, they put plenty of mobsters away using the same technology. Anyway, we have these microphones that you really need to be close to them. And the fear is that maybe, you know, any of these actors that we have on or anybody might just be talking and they may lean back. They may drift from the mic. Billie Eilish. Billie Eilish. It's happened plenty of times. So you were saying that if they wear the headsets, they know when they're wandering away from the mic. but I didn't want that. So I was trying to think of a way that we can not wear headsets because I don't want to talk to Al Pacino while he's wearing what like a submarine sonar guy would have in a World War II movie.

1:03:19I want to talk to Al Pacino. So I was hoping let's not do that. Let's just not do that. And then I came up with an idea for a fix. Which we thought was a real idea. And I told these guys, I set it up so early. Guys, guys, I have a way to fix this. It's a technological fix. And I'm thinking, and you guys were actually looking at me like, well, he probably does have something. I knew you were. You probably knew. I knew you were not serious. Okay, but I think Eduardo. I was intrigued. Blay? A thousand percent. And what about you? I just wasn't listening. Okay. So anyway, I said, no, no, I'm really serious, guys.

1:03:50This is what we should do. We should get a little, just like a little clip and it's tied to a nylon cord and we clip it to them and it's really secure and you guys were still looking at me like, uh-huh, where's he going with this? And then the clip attaches to like a little wheel right here. And then it runs underneath the table. And Eduardo has it. If someone starts to drift off mic, he can pull on it. And they're like, anyway, I just think. And suddenly. We should do that with him. So Al Pacino would be like, and then I was saying, you know, I was talking to him when we shot the Godfather, but too, I go, oh, oh, oh, oh.

1:04:30And then Eduardo would slowly let it out. Anyway, I said to Coppola, I hope it works because I'm a little worried. Now, the funny thing you got to remember about Diane Keaton is... Oh! Oh! Oh! And then I'd word a lesson out just a little bit of a tug to remind him who's boss. I love the idea. So I think we do this idea. Can you do that, but it actually pulls him away from the mic? Even better. You know what? I'll have... So great. you all have wires. Yes. So I'll start. Yes. So I have no wires, but I'll be like, yeah, another thing, Sona. Whee! Yes! Or, oh, well, Gourley, I think. Whee! I love it.

1:05:20I'm just kidding. You guys are just yanking me around. Oh my God. And all the people here is wheezz! Whee! Hawaii! Hawoo! Hawa! Sing! Can we just talk about how personable he was too and how he would talk and, you know, listeners don't know this, but there are two types of guests on the show. Those that just kind of come in and they're tunnel vision. They look at you. And then those that are like really talk to everyone in the room. And he was one of those people that just make eye contact with people. I don't know if you could tell, but I started to build a brick wall so that he couldn't see you guys.

1:05:50Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have because I keep bricks here. Yes, I know that. And I have a lathe. And I was just quickly as that. No, he was honestly comes from the fact that when you read his book, yes, he's an iconic film star. But in his heart, he's a guy who wants to go to the theater and work with everybody and figure it out. And you can tell that's what he loves is he loves this kind of communal. And I think that's his instinct is he's not here just to talk to me. He's here to have an experience with us. Well, you know, you can tell he's a man of the people. when his phone rang in that interview.

1:06:24I looked over and his phone case is all Shrek heads. It's just printed multiple-sized Shrek heads all over his phone. Yeah. He's a dad with some kids. I love it. And he's got Shrek heads. Yeah. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. And then his phone went off. Yeah. Midway through the interview. Is that a... That's happened before maybe? I don't know. But when it rang, my heart dropped because I was like, please don't let it be my phone. It's usually Sona when it's happened. What the fuck? No, no. To be fair, it was Al Pacino's phone, but it was someone calling. Asking, who are you? Yeah, like, can you just tell me who you are real quick?

1:07:02What did you act in? Which reality show were you in? Oh, keep at it, buddy. I'm sure you'll make it. I definitely had a minor panic attack when a phone went off because that's always something I'm constantly worried about or whatever. And then as soon as it was his phone, relief. Yes, I'm the same. I love when it goes off and it's your phone that's hardly ever happened that's how that's you and then you get mad my phone is always on but no one ever calls you you also were had these glasses on the table just like Mo Green in The Godfather and I kept expecting you to put him back on and yeah it's so those movies are so seared into my brain and not just those so many of his movies and you know I I'm serious I know who he is You guys are making.

1:07:50Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We know Matt looked at me like, Sona, do you know what? No, it was. It was your. It wasn't me. I can't hear me. I don't have headphones on. But I will say he's multigenerational. Like, yeah, it doesn't. Because, Eduardo, you were saying for you, it's Scarface for me. Yeah. And and, you know, I remembered when I was in college. Yeah. The Godfather one and two is a big thing. but Scarface was huge. Some of my best friends were friendships were formed over that movie. Really? Yeah, it was special. Oh, I thought you said some of your best friends were dealing cocaine in Miami and shooting each other with machine guns.

1:08:32He did not say that. Yeah. No, but it was, and then it just keeps going because I was talking to a friend of mine who's like a workout fanatic and he'd be in his 30s and he was just saying like, I said that I was going to be talking to Al Pacino and he said, that speech he gives in any given Sunday. And I thought, oh my God, you can, it just goes and goes and goes. It's incredible. And then into the current day with the Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Yep. Yeah. And he's the voice of the new Shrek. That makes sense. Yeah. I get it. Yeah. Donkey, what are you fucking doing? Hey, donkey, why don't you go out in the rowboat and say a Hail Mary?

1:09:15I killed the fucking donkey. I've lost my soul that's a Shrek turn I haven't seen oh my god alright well that was really wow that was fun that was nice to experience that I hesitate to do this but I have to thank you for bringing these kind of crazy experiences into my life it's amazing to be able to sit by and watch this happen well I think he was here to see all of us That's absolutely not true We were waiting for the I was waiting for you to finish I was going to slam you at the end but he didn't give me a chance Oh yeah, that's bullshit I think I wanted to cut it off It almost makes me He outside was saying like I don't want anyone else in the room And I said it's kind of how we do it He went well I don't like Corley, I've heard his other podcasts He does something about Bonanza And I was like no no no It's too niche It's too niche what he does who wants to listen to him and Andy Daly just paddle on.

1:10:18And I said, Al, Al, just come on in and sona, what's that all about? I mean, did she land her ass in butter or what? She's a bad assistant and now she gets a job for life. And I said, Al, Al, just come on in. Then why is Blay wearing the blazer? That's not who Blay is. Everyone turns into Nixon, too. And I'll tell you something now. Let's get Haldeman and Erlichman and let's start a maw and we'll take over the five families Everything is Nick Center! Wee!

1:10:51Conan O 'Brien Needs a Friend with Conan O 'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Nick Leow. Theme song by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy. me?

1:11:11Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign up at SiriusXM.com slash Conan.

1:11:46And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O 'Brien Needs a Friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.