Smoking at 9, street fighting at 12, arrested at 21, the ferocious life of Al Pacino

He became the eternal "godfather" in the heart of people in his thirties, in the fifties with elegant tango to win universal praise classic, and in the seventies when back to the gang boss told people that he was always full of passion, perhaps this is his talent.

Al Pacino can always be aggressive, even if he knows how to turn that ferocity into a comically endearing enthusiasm.

At this year's Academy Awards, he appeared with Coppola and De Niro for the 50th anniversary of The Godfather. His back was bent even more, and the wrinkles on his face in the camera seemed to say to everyone in the audience: So grow old!

April 25th was his 82nd birthday.

Dear Mike Corleone

Al Pacino, an ItaliAn-American, was born in Manhattan, New York. His ancestral home is located in the beautiful island of Sicily. Yes, it's the hometown of the Corleone family in the Godfather series.

In the film, the Corleone family as a whole adheres to the Sicilian tradition of clan unity, with a loving mother and a responsible father.

For Al, life in real life was far less smooth than in the movies.

Young Al Pacino

Al's mother, who was just 19 when she had him, wasn't ready for the transition. When he was two, his parents divorced and his father, who went to work in California, gave him to his grandparents.

His grandparents were extremely conservative and he was not allowed to play outside the house until he was seven. Poverty, loneliness, and the "rebellion" created by the humble depression for a long time left a mark on the young Al.

When it comes to his childhood, his memory is always in the cinema, when watching a movie with his mother was the greatest happiness, because after a few days, imitating the dialogue and characters in the movie would be his only pleasure.

At 14, unschooled, Al had his first stage performance, in Ceckorov's "The Seagull" at the Alsmere Theater in the South Bronx.

Later, when Al stood on the Broadway stage at the age of 29 to accept a Tony Award for a play, his mother died of illness and was never able to share the joy with him.

Surprisingly, the actor, who made his debut on the big screen in 1969, would start his career three years later with the Godfather.

Some people say that Al Pacino's success is largely due to luck, after all, not everyone has been brought up by the likes of Coppola and Sidney Lumet.

But when you think of him as a young, raw actor with the likes of Marlon Brando and John Keisel, you have to admire his potential.

To most viewers, Michael Corleone is Al Pacino.

At the beginning of the shoot, the producers were very shy of the short Al, but it was only at the insistence of director Coppola that the classic second Godfather was retained

Al said he was going to create an enigmatic Mike.

One of the natural human instincts is curiosity. People are eager to see what is inside this mystery. Is it a garden full of spring flowers or a snake or a beast? That's part of Michael Corleone's appeal.

Unlike Marlon Brando, Al explains the inner world of the new Godfather with his sad eyes and dark look.

He hated sin, but spent his life with it; He loved his family, but eventually his wife and his son were separated. His power was great, but he lived a life of pain and anxiety.

A still from The Godfather Part II

If The Godfather was a gangster epic written by Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and Coppola, it was Alcco who made the Godfather trilogy great.

With the accumulation of experience and the training of the director, in the last two films of the Godfather, Al made the majesty, rigor and decisive killing of the prime Michael, and the inner weakness and tragic sense of fatalism of the old Mike into his soul.

"The Godfather Series" made Al, but in a way it imprisoned him.

Because every time he appeared in a new movie, the movie was marketed as the Second Godfather, and even though he tried to put his heart and soul into every movie, people still didn't buy him because it wasn't the Michael Corleone they wanted to see.

In show business, almost all stars experience this paradox. Stay in your comfort zone all your life, or turn around in the most glorious moment.

Al had every reason to turn his back on the Godfather Part III, but the fire was still burning inside him.

"The stage is my life and I am married to this profession. The most important thing has always been the desire and the impulse, and even now, this desire to perform is still burning in me like a fire."

Bet your life on it

"I have gambled with my life that I would rather be on the brink of death than be broken to pieces."

Laurence Grobel, a veteran journalist, quotes Shakespeare from Richard III in the opening reel of The Godfather: Face to Face with Al Pacino. It can also be said of Al Pacino's life.

Smoking at 9, chewing tobacco at 10, smoking a pipe at 11, street sex at 12, marijuana at 13, and a weapons arrest at 21. Oh, and Al had his first sexual experience at the age of nine.

Al was arrested for carrying a gun in 1961

Such an unbridled way of life is certainly not worth advocating, but there is no denying that this attitude, like the wild growth of roadside weeds, implies a certain kind of courage -- the courage to let him live freely, let him become his own courage.

Despite his misdemeanors, his high school drama teacher, Blanche Rothstein, recognized his talent and encouraged him to focus on acting.

In 1954, he auditioned for admission to Manhattan High School in New York, but at a time when people were obsessed with tall, handsome actors like Clark Gable, it was obvious that Al, who was short, didn't have the potential to be a star.

He had to drop out of high school in his second year because his mother was ill and couldn't work. To help pay the bills, Al worked as a supermarket cashier, magazine mailman and concert hall usher.

Until he met the man of his life, Charles Lawton.

The British actor, who won an Oscar for Best Actor in 1934, sensed from the first moment he met Al that there was energy beneath his modest frame, especially in his bright eyes, which seemed to know the dangers of the world like a proud eagle.

"You will be a star in the future," the elder's words became a beacon for young people to move forward.

After years of studying at the Actors Studio and honing his skills on stage, Al, 28, won an Obi Award for Best Actor for his role as Murphy, the mad boy in the play Indiana Needs the Bronx.

The award opened the door to Hollywood, and The Godfather catapulted Al from a newcomer to stardom.

Acclaimed director Michael Mann said, "Pacino is a hidden talent."

His ex-girlfriend Beverly Diangelo confided: "He spends as much time in the mirror as I do, trying to figure out how to act out a situation 40 different ways."

In this way, talent and hard work let the "second godfather" like a chameleon, gradually widened the road.

When Al became famous, he chose roles based on what he called "a deep sense of these characters or their plight."

Although he does not speak Italian, Mr Arnault still identifies himself as Italian

As a representative of a powerful actor, many people would say that he "plays everything like himself", which is not to disapprove of his acting skills, but more to say that he can "get close to the role in his own way".

Like Sonny Watzick in Hot Afternoon, Tony Montana in Scarface, a military veteran in Smell of a Woman, Milton in The Devil's Advocate, and so on.

Argood will the character's swagger, open, emotional ups and downs of the intense give more story and unique charm.

"The character is speaking for me about my inner free self." "Al said.

In the winter of 1992, the tango of "Smell of a Woman" jumped into the hearts of many people, and the uncrowned king of Hollywood finally reached the top at the time of the eighth nomination, and won the only Oscar in his life so far.

Exactly 21 years have passed since the first nomination.

Twenty-one years, let the young godfather into an elegant old boy, vanity fair ups and downs did not let the actor dream of the big boy forget the original heart, but with the growth of age, in addition to play the king play godfather, but also can play a peddling pawn or kind elderly.

His realm, is always trying to break through their own realm, let the role into a cup of the most mellow spirits, countless audiences for the "addiction".

Three of Al's "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" lines from "The Godfather Part II" were among the American Film Institute's "100 Biggest Movie Lines of the Century," selected by 1,500 artists and critics in 2005.

Scarface's "Say'hello' to my little friend! ;

In the Heat of the Afternoon's "Attica! Attica!" .

Break out of the cage

"I'm going to play Picasso when I'm 90. If anyone has a script by then, call me."

Al said this in his seventies. It's as if he has an inexhaustible power when it comes to acting.

For Hollywood, Al's generation of method actors is a living fossil from the 1970s.

Their success in the 1970s corresponded to the zeitgeist of the era in American cinema: the exposure of the corrupt workings of power and the revolt of the little man against the state apparatus.

From then on, whether it's Scarface's "full blown" or Smell a Woman's "charming tango," there always seems to be something magical about him, something that keeps the audience from realizing that the man in front of them has already celebrated his 82nd birthday.

Thankfully, we don't have to worry about him waiting for the end of his life as Marlon Brando, just like he did as Michael Corleone.

Al Pacino, 81, has also been dating producer Alfara, 28, for a while

Because the beast in Al Pacino has been out of his cage ever since he turned down a huge amount of money to play a role he loved in a small theater of 100 people.