(Credits: Far Out / Universal Pictures)
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have always been best buddies. Since the late 1960s – before either of them was an established star – the pair have been cheering one another on, and they’ve even shared the screen a few times, first appearing in the same film together in 1995’s Heat.
While the best friends have often taken on similar roles, from parts as criminals and morally ambiguous characters to more lighthearted and comedic ones, they’ve both established incredibly successful and unique careers – you simply cannot mistake the two. In some cases, the friends even help each other in their careers, such as when Pacino decides he wants to star in a Scarface remake.
The actor had been to a screening of the 1932 version of Scarface, the Al Capone-inspired movie directed by Howard Hawks, and was inspired to make a newer version with himself in the lead. By this point in his career – having starred in movies like The Godfather series, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon – Pacino had enough power and influence to get studios to listen to him. Thus, he got producer Martin Bregman on board, and the pair attempted to figure out who to hire to write and direct the film.
However, during an interview with The New York Times, De Niro revealed how his input might have led Pacino and Bregman to hire De Palma for the project. The actor said, “I worked with De Palma in our younger days on The Wedding Party. Then Greetings and Hi, Mom!. Brian always got a kick out of whatever we tried as actors, whether it was improv or other things, he got great joy out of watching us.”
De Niro’s multiple collaborations with De Palma were crucial in shaping the early days of his career, and he was even formally introduced to Martin Scorsese by the director at a dinner party. De Niro and De Palma hadn’t worked together for several years when Pacino began planning Scarface, but De Niro thought the director would be the perfect man for the job. “I remember when Al was thinking about directors for Scarface, telling him, ‘I hope you do it with De Palma.’”
De Palma had found huge success with Carrie, Dressed to Kill, and Blow Out by this point, and with his propensity for nuanced portrayals of complex characters surrounded by crime and chaos firmly established, he seemed like the right choice for a film about the rise and fall of a drug lord. Initially, Sidney Lumet was on board to direct, but creative differences led to De Palma eventually coming on board.
Meanwhile, Oliver Stone wrote the script, resulting in a tale and tone rather different from the original movie. To many, 1983’s Scarface is the superior film, telling the epic tale with both a grandiose sensibility, highlighting excess and opulence, as well as charting Tony Montana’s rise to success and inevitable demise with complexity. It is widely considered one of the greatest entries into the gangster genre, depicting ruthless violence and the consequences of greed and gluttony, although the depiction of women has been much more widely debated.
Scarface remains one of De Palma’s most well-known films, but it might not have become his if not for De Niro.
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