12 Things We Learned About Al Pacino, 84, From His New Memoir ‘Sonny Boy’

5. He had an equally talented roommate

When he was still a teenager, Pacino was in an acting class with Martin Sheen, now 84, who soon became his roommate. They worked together at Greenwich Village’s Living Theatre, where they cleaned toilets and helped prepare sets. They remained close: In 1988 they appeared together in Julius Caesar at the New York Shakespeare Festival, with Pacino as Marc Antony and Sheen as Brutus. (Alas, critics panned their performances.)

6. Pacino got his biggest break when Coppola spotted him onstage

He landed a role as a heroin addict in 1971’s The Panic in Needle Park. Director Francis Ford Coppola (“a young up-and-comer”) saw his performance and was impressed. It would change his life.

7. He could easily have lost his role in The Godfather

Coppola offered Pacino his signature role of Michael Corleone over the phone, but the studio wasn’t impressed with the early footage. Even Coppola said, “You’re not cutting it." Pacino feared getting fired. He was also scared to death of Marlon Brando.

During their first lunch together, on the set for the hospital scene, Pacino was fascinated watching Brando eat chicken cacciatore with his hands, then wipe them off on the hospital bed sheets. “His hands were full of red sauce,” Pacino writes. “So was his face…. I thought, Is that how movie stars act? You can do anything.”  

Pacino as Michael Corleone and Italian actress Simonetta Stefanelli as Apollonia Vitelli, dressed for their wedding day scene in "The Godfather."

Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

8. The Godfather changed everything

With his Oscar-winning role in The Godfather, Pacino established the highly-clenched acting style that defined the first half of his career and found sudden fame, which was a little disconcerting. ”The effect that the film’s release had on me was immediate. It happened at light speed. Everything changed.” He writes that after the film “they would have let me play anything.” He was even offered the role of Hans Solo in Star Wars but turned it down after reading the script. “I can’t make anything out of this,” he said.  

9. He can be rude

He admits that he once had a problem with alcohol and drugs — although never cocaine (“I’ve always had abundant energy”), and that he could be moody, Pacino sometimes behaved boorishly, and regretted it later. Once, for instance, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her daughter came backstage to see him after watching him star in Richard III on Broadway. “She was so elegant and beautiful, just radiating class. And as I slumped in my chair, I put out my hand for her to kiss it. God only knows what I was thinking. Why would I ever do that? Please tell me, what’s wrong with me?”

10. He also was a bit of a pain on the set

Pacino got his reputation for being “difficult,” in part for his strong ideas about scripts and how his characters should be portrayed and behave — including his Scarface (1983) character, Tony Montana. The actor refused to perform when, to save money, the filmmakers changed a scene from a ritzy restaurant with the cast in tuxedos to a nightclub and less fancy duds: “I thought, This doesn’t belong there. It has to happen at a restaurant with the ritzies, with the privileged class,” so there’s contrast with his down-and-out life

He got his way, but in doing so, delayed filming for a day, cost the filmmakers $200,000 and put “a mark on my reputation.”

Pacino with Diane Keaton at a screening of his 1989 movie "Sea of Love."

Photo by Robin Platzer/Getty Images

11. His romantic relationships have been short lived

Pacino has had numerous high-profile partners, including actresses Jill Clayburgh, Tuesday Weld, Diane Keaton, and Beverly D’Angelo (the mother of his twins, Anton and Olivia), as well as acting coach Jan Tarrant (whom he doesn’t mention in the book, although he does mention the daughter he had with her, Julie Marie). But he has never married, and doesn't seem to be a great romantic partner, at least in some cases: “I don’t think that I was a good companion to Jill. I was neglectful of her,” he writes. “It seemed I always needed someone to take care of me.” He also admits he wasn’t a good father.  

12. He’s got a baby boy — who sends him hopeful messages

Pacino seems over the moon at the 2023 birth of his son, Roman (“It just gives me a chuckle every time I look at him”), with producer-girlfriend Noor Alfallah, who’s 54 years his junior and also goes unmentioned in the book. He reads meaning in Roman’s babbling, writing, “He’s trying to reach me. He’s talking to me, and he’s telling me about where he came from. He’s saying to me, ‘Dad, there’s a place I’ve been and it’s great. It’s a place you’re going to go to soon and you’ll see how great it is…’ Thanks kid.”