“I wrote Sonny Boy to express what I have seen and experienced in my life,” the actor told People in an interview. “It has been an incredibly personal and revealing experience to reflect on this journey, what acting has allowed me to do and the worlds it has opened up for me.”
The book details Pacino’s legendary career, from his days in the New York theatre to his most famous roles and collaborations, and further highlights the “spirit of love and purpose,” as he says, that guided his path.
The actor writes about his childhood in the Bronx, as well as his early artistic inclinations.
Al Pacino in the legendary role of Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” directed by Francis Ford Coppola, 1972. The Godfather was nominated for nine Oscars and won three, including Best Picture.
Italian-American Alfredo James Pacino was born in 1940 in Manhattan, New York.
His nickname was Sonny Boy, as is the title of his book.
Sonny Boy was the title of a song by actor and singer Al Jolson, which Pacino imitated when he was three years old.
His parents divorced, his father left for California, and young Al moved with his mother Rose, to her parents’ home in the Bronx.
His grandfather, who was an Italian from the village of Corleone in Sicily, played a big part in his upbringing and along with his mother, who often took him to the movies, strongly supported his desire to become an actor.
From a young age he liked to make up stories with his mind (he told his classmates, for example, that he was from Texas) which, according to him, helped him to ‘survive’ on the streets of the Bronx and become ‘accepted’.
He dropped out of the legendary High School of Performing Arts because he had to work, and while pursuing his dream he worked many different jobs to support his art: from secretary and janitor to call center operator and waiter.
At one point in his life he was homeless, but through all the difficult times, acting was his salvation and its people were the community he returned to, it was his tribe.
On the set of “Scarface,” in which he played Tony Montana, the story of the rise and fall of a drug lord, directed by Brian De Palma, 1983
With actor Damien Leake in a scene from Sidney Lumet’s “Serpico” (1973), which was based on true events. Pacino played detective Frank Serpico, who uncovered police corruption.
The beginning of an important career
He received his first starring role in 1971 in The Panic in Needle Park and by 1975, he had starred in four films: “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II”, “Serpico” and “Dog Day Afternoon”, which were not only hits but are still landmarks in film history to this day. With these performances he left his imprint and they changed his life forever.
Experts say that a similar phenomenon had not landed in film culture with such power since the late 1950s with Marlon Brando and James Dean. However, by then in his thirties, he had already lived many lives.
He was an integral member of the avant-garde theatre scene and was living a bohemian lifestyle.
His family was poor and, as he has said himself, his mother did not live to experience his recognition, for which she would have been very happy, and moreover because it would have changed her life, as he would now be able to help her financially.
Always, in all phases of his life, he was overflowing with energy and was looking for ways to express himself through acting. And he succeeded.
Director Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro appeared together on the Oscar stage in 2022 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the award-winning film “The Godfather.”
His performance in the not-so-well-known film “The Panic in Needle Park” in 1971 caught the eye of director Francis Ford Coppola, who was looking for an actor for his upcoming film “The Godfather” to portray the role of Michael Corleone. Between Robert Redford and Jack Nicholson, Coppola eventually chose the relatively unknown Pacino.
Released in 1972, The Godfather was a huge success and is widely considered one of the best films of all time.
Pacino’s nominations for prestigious awards are dozens, the wins are numerous and he is one of the few actors to have won the triple crown of acting: Oscar, Emmy and Tony.
In a statement, Penguin Publishing described the book as “a memoir of a man with nothing to fear and nothing to hide.
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All the great roles, meaningful collaborations and important relationships are captured to the full, as is the tumultuous relationship between creativity and sales at the highest levels.”
Al Pacino was fortunate enough to fall deeply in love with an art before he realised its rewards and never stopped loving it. And that’s what makes all the difference.
“Sonny Boy,” will be published in October by Penguin. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730575/sonny-boy-by-al-pacino/
