Finally, it seems we have an explanation as to why Al Pacino starred in Adam Sandler’s “Jack and Jill.”
The Al Dunkaccino rap has lived rent free in many a cinephile’s minds since the infamously maligned film came out in 2011. Now, Pacino is claiming that he only took on the role because he lost all of his finances as part of Ponzi scheme.
“I was broke. I had $50 million, and then I had nothing,” Pacino wrote in his memoir “Sonny Boy,” citing that he started “to get warnings that my accountant at the time, a guy who had lots of celebrity clients, was not to be trusted” circa 2011.
Pacino said that he “had property, but I didn’t have any money” due to his over-spending. Perhaps he shouldn’t have turned down “Star Wars”….
“In this business, when you make $10 million dollars for a film, it’s not $10 million. Because after the lawyers, and the agents, and the publicist, and the government, it’s not $10 million, it’s $4.5 million in your pocket,” Pacino said. “But you’re living above that because you’re high on the hog. And that’s how you lose it. It’s very strange, the way it happens. The more money you make, the less you have.”
He added, “The kind of money I was spending and where it was going was just a crazy montage of loss. […] And I thought, It’s simple. It’s clear. I just know this. Time stopped. I am fucked.”
Enter: Adam Sandler’s offer for Pacino to have a cameo in “Jack and Jill.”
“‘Jack and Jill’ was the first film I made after I lost my money. To be honest, I did it because I didn’t have anything else,” Pacino wrote. “Adam Sandler wanted me, and they paid me a lot for it. So I went out and did it, and it helped. I love Adam, he was wonderful to work with and has become a dear friend. He also just happens to be a great actor and a hell of a guy.”
While all’s well that ends well, Pacino further struggled to find roles, even after “Jack and Jill.”
“I wasn’t a young buck, and I was not going to be making the kind of money from acting in films that I had made before,” iconic actor Pacino said. “The big paydays that I was used to just weren’t coming around anymore. The pendulum had swung, and I found it harder to find parts for myself.”
Pacino previously told The New York Times that he did think that “Jack and Jill” was a “funny” film.
“It came at a time in my life that I needed it, because it was after I found out I had no more money,” he said. “My accountant was in prison, and I needed something quickly. So I took this. There’s this thing I do in that film: They got me doing a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial. You know how many people think I actually made that commercial?”
Pacino’s “Heat” and “Godfather: Part II” co-star (and fellow recent toddler dad) Robert De Niro was rumored to have made similar comments back in 2017 to his now ex-wife Grace Hightower. Page Six reported at the time that De Niro said he “wouldn’t have to keep making shitty movies if you didn’t spend all my money.” He had starred in “Bad Grandpa” in 2016. Hightower and De Niro divorced in 2018 after 20 years of marriage.
