Al Pacino is undoubtedly one of the greatest actors of our generation.
He stars in two of the top four films ever created, ranked by iMDB, yet, at one point, he had ‘nothing’, despite having filmed The Godfather and The Godfather II.
The Oscar winner writes candidly about his time in showbiz through his new memoir Sonny Boy – which he titled to address his one-year-old son Roman.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “I want to be around for this child. And I hope I am.
“I hope I stay healthy, and he knows who his dad is, of course.”
It details a lifetime of money issues for the 84-year-old.
He reportedly only earned $35,000 for his role in The Godfather.
By the next one, he earned a lot more, and even more for Scarface – but that money didn’t stretch too far.
“I had about ninety grand in the bank and that was it,” he wrote.
“I had a lifestyle to boot. I had my home in the country, which I didn’t want to give up. I was spending and not earning; I was putting out but I wasn’t bringing in.”
He only featured in five films throughout the 80s, and admitted he had nothing left by the time The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola got in touch with him to shoot The Godfather III.
Al Pacino’s memoir ‘Sonny Boy’ is available for purchase in most book stores across the US (Penguin Press)
“The choice could not have been easier,” he explained.
“I was broke. Francis was broke. We both needed the bread.”
He got into financial trouble a few more times in his life. Once in 2011, he discovered his accountant was crooked and running a Ponzi scheme – which according to Investor.gov, is investment fraud consisting of paying existing investors with funds collected from new investors.
Soon after, he was broke again, writing: “I had fifty million dollars, and then I had nothing.
“I had property but I didn’t have any money … The kind of money I was spending and where it was going was just a crazy montage of loss.”
Incredibly, he detailed some of the shocking purchases he made, and was making, which saw his bank account looking flush with $50 million to having ‘nothing’.
Pacino was paying for 23 phones, 16 cars, and a gardener who was earning an eye-watering $400,000 a year.
Pacino added: “Mind you, that was for landscaping at a house I didn’t even live in.”
Al Pacino wrote candidly about money troubles in his memoir but writes how he now thinks about his ‘estate’ (Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
But those times of scrambling for money aren’t major concerns anymore, as he admitted he ‘has to think very seriously about my estate now. That means I have to get advice from people who are way smarter than me’.
As well as Roman, Pacino has three other children.
His eldest, Julie Pacino, is 34, and he also has 23-year-old twins Anton and Olivia Pacino.
He recently split with Roman’s mom Noor Alfallah – who he began dating in April 2022, before she gave birth to his youngest son in June last year.