Al Pacino revealed that he donated his entire salary from a movie he filmed in the 1980s because of its “exploitative” nature.
The 84-year-old actor admitted that he “didn’t see it that way when I did it” and that he wasn’t “as sensitive” as he could have been then.
In his memoir Sonny Boy, he talked about working on the 1980 crime thriller Cruising, which is about a serial killer who targets gay men in the leather scene.
At the time, the film faced backlash and gay rights activists protested during filming.
Forty years later, the Godfather star – who revealed how he narrowly avoided being kidnapped in the early days of his career – opened up about a secret donation he made while the film was shrouded in controversy.
Al Pacino revealed that he donated his entire salary from a movie he filmed in the 1980s due to its “exploitative” nature; pictured in April 2023 in New York City
In the film, directed by William Friedkin, he played detective Steve Burns, who becomes deeply entrenched in New York City’s gay S&M subculture while trying to track down a serial killer.
In his story, he said that producers begged him to defend the film, so he agreed.
“After all, they had paid me a lot of money, and I wasn’t about to just abandon them,” he wrote before sharing his discomfort.
“But I wanted to go somewhere away from the madness,” he said. “I had enough.”
Behind the scenes, he made amends and donated his entire salary in an attempt to “assuage my conscience.”
“I never accepted the salary for cruising,” he recalls. “I took the money and it was a lot, and I put it in an irrevocable trust fund, which means once I gave it, it couldn’t be taken back.”
He revealed that he had paid out the money, plus interest, to several charities.
“I don’t know if it eased my conscience,” he admitted. “But at least the money did something good.”
In his memoir Sonny Boy, he talked about working on the 1980 crime thriller Cruising, which is about a serial killer who targets gay men in the leather scene; pictured in 1980, still from Cruising
At the time, the film faced backlash and gay rights activists protested during filming; pictured in 1980, still from Cruising
The actor admitted that he “didn’t see it that way when I did it” and that he wasn’t “as sensitive” as he could have been then; pictured in 1980, still from Cruising
Four decades later, the Godfather star opened up about a secret donation he made while the film was shrouded in controversy; pictured in 1980, still from Cruising
He said his donations were anonymous and he had never revealed that fact until now.
“I didn’t want to make it a PR stunt,” he said. “I just wanted one positive thing to come out of that whole experience.”
In his memoirs, Pacino also wrote about Scarface.
The film initially received poor reviews before the crime epic was eventually dubbed a classic and Tony Montana became known as his most iconic role.
“To this day, it is still the greatest film I ever made,” he wrote in his memoir.
‘The residual flows still support me. I can live on it. I mean, if I lived like a normal person. But it does contribute, let’s put it that way.’