Al Pacino says streaming services remind him of the old days as he has the privilege to rehearse now

Al Pacino threw his support behind video streaming services, saying they give actors valuable rehearsal time that is so often missing from films.

The critically-acclaimed actor, 79, who has a career spanning five decades, makes his TV debut in Amazon Prime’s Hunters this week, playing a Holocaust survivor who runs a network of Nazi hunters in 1970s New York. 

Speaking at Q&A in London, Pacino reflected on the benefits of working on a streaming service project, saying it was like the ‘old days’ of cinema, when he worked with directors like Sidney Lumet and Francis Ford Coppola. 

Al Pacino said that streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix have brought back the freedom and excitement of ‘the old days’ of cinema ahead of his TV debut in Amazon Prime’s Hunters. He is pictured here at the exclusive screening of Hunters, with co-star Logan Lerman (left) and writer David Weil (right)

He said: ‘You don’t get rehearse anymore. Rehearsals are gone – if you’ve got a film that rehearses, let me know! It’s become a privilege and a luxury to rehearse now.

‘In the old days, when I did films with [Serpico director] Sidney Lumet  and [Francis Ford] Coppola [the Godfather director] they rehearsed, we rehearsed for weeks on a film and you had a chance to understand the role in a different way.

‘We were together for five months,’ Pacino continued, talking about the cast of the Hunters. 

‘The difference is we had different directors,  we had about six or seven different directors, which means you gotta learn to adjust to that in some ways and I kinda liked it, I gotta be honest with you, as they were acting as overseers in some way. 

Pacino with co-star Logan Lerman in Amazon Prime's Hunters, his first ever television role

Pacino with co-star Logan Lerman in Amazon Prime’s Hunters, his first ever television role

‘You know they were just a part of how this thing was gonna turn out. They were really open to us, about what we had to say and our thoughts, which is a really good experience. 

‘The writers were always there, no matter who the director was. We would sit around for hours discussing the scene and you could see the producers going “oh no” but we would do it, and we had that feeling at it was wonderful.   

‘On a film you’re doing something in two hours. But here [in a series], you’re doing something in 12 hours.’

He also compared it to the experimental excitement he felt working with the avant garde New York City theatre company the Living Theatre, where he spent the early years of his career.

Executive produced by Academy Award winner Jordan Peele, Hunters will be Pacino’s second venture into working with a streaming service. 

This year he picked up his ninth Oscar nomination for his role in the Irishman, a Netflix original film co-starring Robert De Nero and Joe Pesci. 

Pacino compared the Hunters process to the experimental excitement he felt working with the avant garde New York City theatre company the Living Theatre, where he spent the early years of his career. is pictured here in a still from the show with co-star Logan Lerman

Pacino compared the Hunters process to the experimental excitement he felt working with the avant garde New York City theatre company the Living Theatre, where he spent the early years of his career. is pictured here in a still from the show with co-star Logan Lerman

Speaking about his new project, Pacino continued: ‘[Hunters] is a 12-hour film. Some of it is very tippy-top and some of it is pretty great and some of it is a little less.  When you’re doing 12 hours you need little respites each episode.

‘But every episode clicks, but I love the freedom of it, I love the  fact that it’s so eccentric, it’s so eclectic, it goes from one thing to another it’s so strange sometimes you think “what the hell am I doing” but the character stories here are so interesting.

‘With these people, with my colleagues here, we’re forming a troop, your relationship with them gets closer, it becomes a team, you become a collective, I really believe them, which helps. 

Speaking about his long-spanning career, the star added that as an actor he is an ’emotional athlete’.  

‘We go through every emotion, every emotion you people feel, we go through.

‘Sometimes that’s trying but it’s also it feels as though there’s a fun in it, there’s a part of it that’s exercising things, getting in touch with your psyche and your emotion you want in your life. 

‘It’s draining doing a days work, you get to a lot of places and your really exhausted. We could go on forever doing that. People say are you crazy, and I say, yeah we are.’

Speaking about his cast, Pacino added: 'With these people, with my colleagues here, we're forming a troop, your relationship with them gets closer, it becomes a team, you become a collective, I really believe them, which helps'. Pictured from left, writer David Weil, stars Tiffany Boone, Logan Lerman, Al Pacino, Jerrika Hinton, Greg Austin and writer Nikki Toscano

Speaking about his cast, Pacino added: ‘With these people, with my colleagues here, we’re forming a troop, your relationship with them gets closer, it becomes a team, you become a collective, I really believe them, which helps’. Pictured from left, writer David Weil, stars Tiffany Boone, Logan Lerman, Al Pacino, Jerrika Hinton, Greg Austin and writer Nikki Toscano

Holocaust tattoo was ‘a helping hand in portraying a character’ 

Al Pacino takes on the role of Holocaust survivor Meyer Offerman in the Amazon series which debuts on February 21.

Hunters takes place in New York in 1977, where Pacino’s character co-founded a Nazi hunting organisation after discovering high ranking Nazis living in the US. 

Throughout the show, Meyer is shown with a numbered tattoo on his arm. 

These were given to concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust to identify them to officials in the camps.

Nikki Toscano, Al Pacino, David Weil and Logan Lerman attend a screening and Q&A for Amazon Prime Video's upcoming Original series Hunters

Nikki Toscano, Al Pacino, David Weil and Logan Lerman attend a screening and Q&A for Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming Original series Hunters

Speaking at the London premiere of the show, Pacino described his tattoo as ‘a hand in helping portray a character, learning the accent and becoming that person’.

He added: ‘It was a reminder, it contributed to all the aspects of the character you are playing and how you absorb a character.’

The show’s David Weil added the series was ‘a love letter to my grandmother’, who survived the Holocaust. 

He said: ‘Growing up and getting older, I struggled with that notion of birth right, legacy and responsibility.

‘With so many survivors no longer with us, we are the next generation to tell this story in certain ways. [This show] is an exploration of my birthright, this desire to wear that vigilante cape, to get justice, to shed light on hidden crimes and truths.

‘I just really wanted to see a Jewish superhero, represented by so many others in this eccentric, eclectic kind of way. So that was the genesis of it.’   

The show is based on true stories of individuals who took it upon themselves to hunt and track Nazis after the war.  

The cast includes Logan Lerman, Josh Radnor,Louis Ozawa Changchien, and Carol Kane. 

  • Hunters is streaming globally on Amazon Prime now

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