How Al Pacino blew his only chance of working with Bob Dylan
(Credits: Far Out / Theater Company of Boston / Alamy)
Being an actor gives you opportunities that few others get, like working alongside artists that you truly admire.
While some people pay hundreds to see their favourite celebrity in the flesh, when you’re famous yourself, you might find yourself sharing a screen with them, suddenly spending every day together to bring a project to life.
For Al Pacino, the idea of working with Bob Dylan was almost too good to be true, but in a moment of respectable professionalism, the actor turned down the chance to star alongside the iconic folk singer because of practical reasons. It seems as though Pacino made the right decision, however, because the movie, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, was a notorious failure.
While it did spawn a great soundtrack from Dylan, including his classic hit ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’, Sam Peckinpah’s film was panned by critics, although the cut that was released was far from what the director had in mind. It was a tense production, marred by disagreements between the iconic filmmaker and MGM, including the run-time. Head of MGM, James Aubrey, tried to take matters into his own hands, cutting the movie down to a significantly shorter length, much to Peckinpah’s dismay.
The project, which starred Dylan alongside a selection of stars like James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, and Katy Jurado, was a disaster, and Peckinpah’s alcoholism only made shooting more difficult. Released in 1973, the film came at the beginning of Pacino’s career, shortly after his appearance in The Godfather, so the actor evidently made the right decision in missing out on the movie, instead appearing in the acclaimed Scarecrow and Serpico that year.
So, why did Pacino turn down the role? As much as he was keen to work alongside Dylan, Pacino knew that, at this pivotal stage in his burgeoning Hollywood career, he had to look after his health. That, and he didn’t want to ride a horse.
In his memoir Sonny Boy, the actor wrote, “They offered me the role of Billy the Kid in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. I loved Peckinpah. One of the greatest directors ever. Could you imagine doing a movie and getting to act with Bob Dylan? And who wouldn’t want to play Billy the Kid? I thought that was something I could do. Then I read the script, and I wanted to do some rewrites, correcting the script with Peckinpah, the way I usually work with directors. I could just see it.”
He added, “I thought, I’m not getting on any horses. They’re too big. I’ll be down in Mexico with Peckinpah, and I’ll probably die of alcohol poisoning because I’d be around it so much. And I passed on it.”
Instead, musician and actor Kristofferson took on the part of Billy the Kid, although it’s fascinating to imagine what Pacino might have been like in the role. Perhaps the movie would’ve turned out differently with Pacino, who was quickly proving himself to be one of the greatest actors of his generation, commanding the screen. However, with the amount of behind-the-scenes issues with MGM that affected the project, it seems like the movie was doomed for failure.
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