Movie Legend Blasts Al Pacino: Reveals Harsh Memories from Iconic ’80s Thriller!

Passing away in August 2023 at the age of 87, William Friedkin was a legendary filmmaker. Since his breakthrough with French Connection, he left an indelible mark on the cinema of the 70s and 80s, notably bringing horror to the forefront at the Oscars with his iconic film, The Exorcist.

No one is soon to forget his multi-Oscar-winning French Connection, an absolute classic of American cinema where Gene Hackman delivers an outstanding performance as the irascible and brutal cop Jimmy Doyle, also known as “Popeye”. Nor will anyone easily forget Sorcerer, released 24 years after The Wages of Fear yet arguably superior to it.

Nor can we overlook To Live and Die in L.A., that emblematic and masterful 80s piece, where, through his aesthetic approach and era-specific music, he blurred the lines between cops and criminals, staging a deadly game of cat and mouse in an ever-Babylonian City of Angels.

“It’s not even a pimple on the ass of the world!”

An absolute cinephile, Friedkin was also known for his brutally honest thoughts, whether about colleagues, actors, or actresses. In response to a journalist asking him about Al Pacino’s criticism of the ending of his film Cruising, Friedkin bluntly said, “I couldn’t care less what Al Pacino thinks. I care much more about what an actor like Tommy Lee Jones thinks because he’s a brilliant, prepared, professional actor. He thought more about his character than I did. He came to the set with absolutely brilliant ideas. I don’t feel the same about Al Pacino.”

Some of you might also recall, perhaps, his utterly bizarre and delicious exchange with Nicolas Winding Refn, who boasted about his film Drive as a masterpiece. “I made it four years ago,” said Refn.

“Four years is nothing, not even a pimple on the ass of the world!” Friedkin retorted. “2001: A Space Odyssey was made in 1968, and it still holds up magnificently, way better than all the crap that tried to copy it.”

“Film competition is a dirty joke”

The director of The Exorcist also had a few arrows for the members of festival juries, released during a sequence of the remarkable but sadly unreleased documentary Friedkin Uncut, aired in 2018. It was actually presented at the Venice Film Festival that year.

Friedkin criticized the juries of festivals and the very idea of competition among films. He expressed his disdain for the notion of a group of people believing themselves qualified to judge that one film is better than another, citing the absurd idea of comparing La Dolce Vita to Batman v Superman.

“Judging one film as better than another is nothing but a purely subjective conclusion. I don’t want a bunch of idiots who call themselves judges, sitting in a damn room, to say ‘Oh! This La Dolce Vita is not as good as Batman Vs Superman.’ To hell with them, their mounts, the ship that brought them here, and even the dog that follows them!” This remark circulated widely on social media following the filmmaker’s death. It’s pure Friedkin — provocative, outspoken, half-serious, half-mocking.