 A
decade later all involved agree that Pfeiffer
was perfect casting as the snooty debutante
cocaine connoisseur. But back in 1982
casting director Alixe
Gordin had to persuade De
Palma (who had seen Grease
2 and hated it) even to allow her
to read for the role. And then Gordin
recalls telling her thanks, but they were
looking elsewhere. Five weeks later, when
Pfeiffer
thought she had missed her chance to work
with Pacino
and De Palma,
she was called back and given the role.
But things still were not fixed.
And the problems weren't all about Pfeiffer's
casting. The $24 million film angered
Miami's Cuban community when it was announced.
There were bomb threats, and De
Palma had to move much of the production
back to California. No one wanted any
problems with the casting.
 Marty
Bergman is an outgoing man, the
opposite to his friend Pacino.
As well as Scarface
they teamed for Serpico
(1973), Scarecrow
(1973), Dog
Day Afternoon (1975) and Sea
of Love (1989). Bergman
also encouraged Pacino
in his first starring role in 1971's Panic
in Needle Park and persuaded him
to appear in his star making role as Michael
Corleone in The
Godfather in 1972. Over coffee
at a hotel in Beverly Hills the eminent
producer is dismissive of his influence
over the man who is now a screen legend.
But his connections with the leading
player in Scarface
were more than helpful in getting Pfeiffer
into the film. It was a difficult task:
'I forced that to
happen against strenuous objections from
almost everyone. But when she read the
part on stage with Al it was magic. There
was such an intensity.'
 Pfeiffer
remembers the reading with Pacino
with a shiver: 'I
was terrified, so terrified. I couldn't
say two words to him [Pacino].
We were both really shy. We'd sit in a
room, and it was like pulling teeth to
try and find any words at all. And the
subject matter was so dark. There was
a coldness in the film relationship.
'I was very excited to
work with Al, but I was also intimidated
by him. I had to play a cold and aloof
woman, very different from my personality
and a difficult character for me to hold
on to.'
She held on. Yes, she had again been
cast for her 'look', and in the film it
is perfect. She is the fantasy figure,
the woman every man in the audience wants
to show who's boss. As Tony
Montana does. Except he marries
her and buys a mansion that he turns into
a monument of bad taste for them to live
in. In a subplot, Montana,
with dark desires, gets overly paternal
and protective with his young sister played
by Mary Elizabeth
Mastrantonio. In her big scene,
wearing nothing but a flimsy unopened
robe she runs her hands up and down her
body taunting the brother who has just
killed her husband to 'fuck me, fuck me,
fuck me'. When Pacino's
Montana gets
to the boil she pulls out a gun and starts
firing crazily at him before being torn
apart by machinegun fire herself.
 In
these 'dark' circumstances it was understandable
that the actress would bond with Pfeiffer.
They were both newcomers and Scarface
was a very macho movie.
During a conversation at a hotel on Hollywood's
Sunset Boulevard, Mastrantonio said:
“Scarface
was heavy. I loved working with Al and
Michelle very much. But it was an odd
set to be on. He was quiet and withdrawn.
And I was shy and so was Michelle. It
was a man's world and all these people
with greasy hair and these big guns. We.
girls didn't know why we were there.” |
