Al Pacino's memoir 'Sonny Boy' is a story of adventure, starting in the South Bronx

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2024

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Al Pacino's childhood was spent in a tough neighborhood in the South Bronx. But he grew up among a crew of wild kids who often found themselves on adventures rivaling those of Huckleberry Finn. Those childhood antics proved foundational for Pacino, who details these stories and more in a new memoir, Sonny Boy. In today's episode, Pacino speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about the experiences that ignited and fed his love of acting, like a performance of Chekhov's The Seagull that changed his life. They also discuss the influence of the actor's mother and grandfather on his upbringing and whether Pacino still feels like a nonconformist at 84 years old.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. No long wind up here today. Al Pacino is on the pod.
0:08.4	He's got a new memoir titled Sunny Boy detailing his life and early love of movies. And in this
0:14.0	interview with MPR. R. Shapiro, it's apparent that Pacino decided to write this book because he's
0:19.0	getting old. And it was a practice in looking back and reassessing his own life.
0:24.0	And in doing so, he learned a few things about himself.
0:28.6	That's ahead.
0:30.3	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:35.1	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors. On our new show,
0:40.6	Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you
0:45.8	understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or
0:51.7	wherever you get your podcasts.
1:00.6	In the Bronx and the 1940s, a kid growing up in a tenement started to figure out his destiny.
1:06.1	He was five when he watched a movie about the struggles of an alcoholic, and then he'd mimic the performance over and over for his Sicilian immigrant relatives. By junior high, he was doing
1:10.7	the school plays. One guy high, he was doing the school
1:11.1	plays. One guy told him he'd be the next Marlon Brando. Soon enough, this boy, the neighborhood
1:16.5	kids, called Pachi, was acting opposite Brando in one of the great movies of all time.
1:22.4	Good man. I took care of that. Oh, that's right. I forgot.
1:28.5	What's the matter?
1:31.1	What's bothering you?
1:34.7	I'll handle it.
1:37.0	I told you I can handle it.
1:38.7	I'll handle it.
	...

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