“I Knew He Didn’t Want Me.” Michelle Pfeiffer's Fight for a Role in Scarface Led to Al Pacino Bleeding. Actor Didn't Want Her in the Movie
Al Pacino did not want Michelle Pfeiffer to star alongside him in Scarface. Nonetheless, the actress fought for the role, getting involved to the point that she accidentally injured Pacino during screen test.
Scarface has a cult status as a film. Al Pacino's role in this production has gone down in history, however, he was not the only star of the show. In another prominent role we saw Michelle Pfeiffer, who at the time was not yet the global star she is today. Pacino, on the other hand, was not convinced about her participation in this production. In fact, he didn't even want her to play his screen love.
The actress returned to those memories on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
He was probably more intense back then…or, I think it was maybe the nature of the project, and he didn’t particularly want me for the part […] It was a very long and drawn-out audition process and […] I don’t know it seemed like forever but I think it was about 2 or 3 months. And I was terrified and I was really young, and I knew he didn’t want me, and as it went on, the worse I got because I just got so afraid.
Pfeiffer, however, did not give up. Despite the unfavorable position she was in, probably in part due to her performance in the flop Grease 2, the actress continued her fight for the role in Scarface, intending to prove to everyone who didn't believe in her that she could handle the role of Elvira Hancock.
However, the artist was rejected, although this did not at all end her adventure with Scarface. Just when she thought the fight was over and even felt some relief, she was called back a month later and invited to a screen test. Pfeiffer had mixed feelings about this, but decided that nothing worse could happen. After all, she had been rejected once.
So she went to the screen test with a completely different energy, which helped her give a much better performance than she did during the auditions. What Michelle Pfeiffer did during the screen test secured her a role alongside Al Pacino in Scarface.
It kind of freed me up, you know, and sort of…I wasn’t afraid. And I show up and we do this scene, the restaurant scene at the end where I kind of freak out at the end…I threw dishes and everything went flying and I broke things…I was in it! And there was blood everywhere.
And everyone comes running over to me, checking me for blood, where am I cut, they’re not finding anything, there are no cuts on me…and I go over, and Al is bleeding […] I cut Al Pacino! And that’s how I got the part.
Initial difficulties meant that in the end Pfeiffer managed to surprise everyone, proving that the role of Elvira should go to her. And looking at her performance in Scarface, one can say that she was indeed the right choice.