What Al Pacino told Robert De Niro after an ‘out of this world’ performance

Al Pacino and Robert De Niro will go down as two of the world’s greatest actors. Between them, they have 18 Academy Award nominations, three wins, and a shared career peak with Heat. Beyond that, they have ties with one another thanks to The Godfather (and lesser so, Righteous Kill). The two are clearly fans of one another’s work too, and have remained in touch over the years.

One role De Niro took on in the early 1980s prompted Pacino to reach out to his peer and hail the Cape Fear and Taxi Driver star for an “out of this world” performance. Martin Scorsese, the director behind both aforementioned films, also helmed the project Pacino was full of praise for. Raging Bull, the boxing drama which released in 1980 and also starred Joe Pesci brought on a heap of praise from Pacino.

In a note he wrote to De Niro at the time of the film’s release, Pacino praised the veteran actor for his “monumental piece of art” and apologsied if the note had embarrassed him. He wrote: “Hi Bobby, I just gotta tell you – I saw your Raging Bull for the first time Saturday. I’m still high from it… It is a monumental piece of art, an inspiration to me.

“I never do this as you know simply because, if I start now everything you do, if I don’t write a note you’ll think I don’t like it. That’s not true of course, but I just had to do this. Sorry if I’ve embarrassed you – ‘out of this world Bobby’ Love, Al.” De Niro and Pacino remain firm friends and have been close for over 50 years.

In an interview with The Guardian to promote The Irishman, which saw the pair on-screen together for the first time since Righteous Kill, Pacino explained the pair’s blossoming friendship. He said: “We’re really close. We don’t see each other very much, but when we do, we found we shared certain things. In a way, I think we’ve helped each other throughout life.”

Pacino went on to say that The Irishman, his first project with Scorsese, is not the first time the duo had attempted to work together. “Like everything in this business,” he said, “if you’ve been in it for a while, you realise that things get started, but then they go in different places and they don’t always culminate in a film. A couple of times, Marty and I were going to do something together, then they slip away. Happens all the time.”

De Niro has been equally as complimentary to Pacino over one role which threw the spotlight onto his Heat co-star. De Niro told GQ that Scarface highlighted how special Pacino was as an actor. He said: “He was unique and special. I, of course, understood why Francis [Ford Coppola] wanted Al.”