Al Pacino’s Danny Collins is inspired by the life of folk singer Steve Tilston. In a freewheeling conversation, the actor talks about his stage phobia and his one-time belief that he was the reincarnation of Beethoven
Danny gets a bit of stage fright when he wants to play his original song and then falls back into his popular one. Have you ever had stage frightIJ
All the time, When you’re on stage, you forget your words. Three thousand people and you don’t know where you are or what you’ve got to say. You should be saying (something), but then it’s gone. That’s tough. But with all roles, it starts with when you’re given a part and you’ve got a canvas and there’s nothing on it. Sometimes it’s a little more daunting than others. But you find after a while, without even knowing it, you have a technique that you go to. You can’t help it. It’s like anything else — like riding a bicycle — you start to do certain things. It’s all a question of how to get there. The play is the thing for me. That’s why I’m there. That’s my sanity — what’s in that text. And that’s what I’m devoted to.
What aspects of Danny’s character did you immediately identify withIJ
That’s good because I can answer this now and give you a sense of how I worked a little bit. When I got the character, I thought, “I’ve never played a rock star. I’m not a real singer. So I’ve got to do that.” I liked the story, and I kept getting clues from the text as to what happened to this person, and I started thinking — ‘Who is heIJ’ ‘Who is he in relation to meIJ’ ‘Who am IIJ’ I was not doing this necessarily consciously.
You start learning the text. You start thinking of what the character looks like, the images and how you’re going to do it. It’s this process which doesn’t change much. I liked the idea that this guy is a survivor. I think that’s what got to me, because someone comes on touted as the next Bob Dylan. And it’s always good when you know it’s partially true because it lends a credibility to the thing. He’s touted as that, and he’s the next new superstar in this world, but he barely shaves. And then, the next time out, he’s eviscerated. It’s almost incomprehensible that a kid at 20 or 21 can handle it really, and he’s thrown off his game. So what does he doIJ As a survivor, he resorts to what he knows best — not going back and writing. He goes back to using some of the things that he knows he’s in control of — his dancing, singing, his charm and looks — which seem to be perpetuating him. Then he goes in there and he does other people’s songs. That’s an idea and he’s able to put them over because he still has the appetite to do it. And somehow he’s going to get back to the writing somewhere, but he has to survive now because he didn’t want to go back there and get hurt again, because maybe it was all luck.
I liked that survivor that’s sort of coped using what’s there and what’s available. I think that spurred and energised me. But then, that runs out of gas at one point and the juice and the feelings about oneself, especially a creative person like him. Naturally, the booze, the drugs, the lifestyle, the fame...all of that becomes part of his life before the slow disintegration starts to come in. It’s classic. So fortuitous and fatalist was that letter that comes to him (from John lennon). Otherwise, he would have gone down that road. It was coming. There’s a rebirth there in some ways. It couldn’t have happened ten years earlier. The confluence of things is always what does it. And Dan (Fogelman) picks it up there. This really did happen up to a point and Dan imagined it.
How was it working opposite Annette BeningIJ You had terrific chemistry together.
It’s ferocious. It was staggering being around her. She really is, you almost can say, possessed, but that sounds a little like a pejorative. She is amazing and fun. I’d love to do something with her again. She’s never done, you know. The director says, “Cut,” but she’s not done. “let’s do it again. There’s more to mine here. There’s another way to go,” she would say. So, it’s fun to be around someone like that. Not only it is her colossal talent but also her experience that make her really special.
Were you a fan of John lennon’s musicIJ Did it have any impact on youIJ
Yes. I loved Beatles and Rolling Stones too. I was much more classically bent. I like classical music. It was what I was drawn to early on. So, before we knew of The Beatles, I was interested in that kind of music. Of course, I liked rock and roll too growing up in the city. I love the 50s.
Do you like to singIJ
I wish I could sing more but it doesn’t come to me. I love dancing, too but it doesn’t come to me and I don’t know why. I like it because it’s music. I don’t even listen to music much anymore. You know it’s so funny because you don’t realise how much it gives you until you go to it.
Is there anyone you would have loved to get a letter like this from living or deadIJ
I would love to have a letter but I’m sure Beethoven couldn’t write me a letter. But I thought, for a ,while that I was a reincarnated as Beethoven. There was a time when I just started playing the piano. I thought, “Where’s this coming fromIJ” In my own way, I was writing music. In those days, you had a tape recorder which was so easy to operate and which could tape anything. I was doing that for a while and realised that by recording the music I was able to reflect on my inner life more and connect with it. But I never went back to it again. Again, like the phases of my poetry that I wrote, the music that I played — I lost it all. I lost it because I had taped it. I don’t read notes but I wish I had found a way to. You lose these things as you move on. The tape recorder is somewhere, though.
Do you still enjoy acting todayIJ
Every single time I get the urge to act, I lie down until it passes. That’s Oscar Wilde who said that. I love it when I am in the environment that makes it possible. But it really varies from project to project today though. It’s like everything else; you just do it because it’s your profession.
How was it, singing in front of an actual concert audienceIJ
The scene was shot at the Greek Theatre in lA. Dan wanted me to shoot the scene when rock band Chicago was playing at the venue. I got in costume and the only thing that was holding me high was the consolation that I was playing Danny and not myself.
The lead singer there broke the set for a minute and told the audience, “We have someone here tonight who’s going to come out and sing a song for you. It’s a song from a movie, and he’s a movie actor, and he’s playing a part. So, when he comes out, he’ll be the character in the movie, but you would know him as Al Pacino.” So, when I went out, the audience was prepared. I came out dressed as Danny Collins. It was thunderous what happened and the energy from the band and everything. I tell you, if it was me without my character, I’d have fainted dead. It was that invigorating.
You’ve had some of the most memorable movie lines like “Say hello to my little friend” and “I knew it was you, Fredo.” What are the lines you hear the most when fans see youIJ
Mainly lines I think from Scarface would be the ones quoted the most. There was this...“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse,” but that’s dated now. It’s mainly the Scarface ones, which seems to be with me all the time. It’s like I did it last month. It’s amazing how that happened.