Jerry Schatzberg: "Al Pacino was the role"

Posted on october 12, 2016 AT 11AM

In the New York of the 1960s, Bobby and Helen are struggling in the abysses of addiction. On screen, Al Pacino and Kitty Winn embody the two young adults rapidly descending into hell in The Panic in Needle Park, the second film by American director Jerry Schatzberg. A Best Actress award was won at the Cannes festival in 1971, and Al Pacino's performance launched his career: the duo chosen by the filmmaker had impacted moviegoers. But did you know that the famous "Al" almost never joined the cast of "The Panic in Needle Park"? When the film screened on Tuesday at the Institut Lumière, Jerry Schatzberg himself explained why. Amusing anecdote below!

"I had seen Al Pacino in a Broadway play with my manager four years before The Panic in Needle Park. I wanted to make a film with him. A few years later, when I was offered the script, I rejected it at first. My agent, who had become Al Pacino's, convinced me to make the film. I wanted Al to play the part, but 20th Century Fox, producer of the film, found him too old for the role. So I held auditions with many young New York actors. The last to appear was a certain Robert De Niro. In testing, he did well, but for me,  Al was the role. A few days later, I ran into De Niro in a park, and he said, "So? Are we making the film? "I told him I had wanted Al Pacino from the beginning. He turned around and hardly ever spoke to me again. However, three months ago, I was at a tribute to actor Morgan Freeman. De Niro came over to greet me, 43 years after the audition!"

Laura Lepine

The Panic in Needle Park by Jerry Schatzberg (1971, 1:50)