Q 6

PLAYBOY: When you go to parties, are you ever asked to imitate Tony?

Al Pacino: It depends on the party. And since I haven't been to a party in 47 years, I can say only that I've dreamed I've been to a party where people asked me.

Q 7

PLAYBOY: The generation before yours produced three actors that others emulated: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and James Dean. Your generation's three are you, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson. Who belongs in the generation that has followed yours?

Al Pacino: Sean Penn, Johnny Depp and Russell Crowe. They should be in The Brothers Karamazov together.

Q 8

PLAYBOY: Were you surprised Penn wanted to get out of acting some years ago?

Al Pacino: Sometimes you go through these phases. He has a real gift for directing, too, and writing. Part of it is his need to be in control of things. When you're an actor you have to be able to let go of that control. I think he's come to terms with that. He's a great actor in movies. Look at Bobby De Niro--he waited a long time to direct, and he made a wonderful movie with A Bronx Tale. Now he's directing another one, a spy movie with Matt Damon. The point is, he's quite capable of directing.

Q 9

PLAYBOY: Why aren't you?

Al Pacino: I don't know why. There's a misconception about directors. They're people who can bring you into a story in a certain way and tell the story directorially. Warren Beatty can do it. He's a sensational actor, but he's also a great director. Robert Redford can do it. He speaks in a language only a director can speak. I don't see the world that way. I wouldn't know how to do it, nor would I care to. Only on occasion did I know I could direct--as with Looking for Richard, which was an extension of my vision of something I wanted to say. Sometimes I'm very inarticulate unless I'm emotional. I can't speak in a cold, clear, meticulous way. I'm not good at that. That's not the case with acting, because I've been doing it my whole life. Acting comes more naturally to me. Or it used to. I don't know--now bullshitting comes more naturally to me.

Q 10

PLAYBOY: Yet you have a boxed set of three independent films coming out soon on DVD. You directed two of them--Chinese Coffee and Looking for Richard--and you were heavily involved with the third, The Local Stigmatic. Why did it take so long for you to release them?

Al Pacino: I'll tell you the truth: I don't know what the hell I was doing by not letting them out. Why didn't I? Frankly, I don't know why.

Q 11

PLAYBOY: Are you concerned that since some of these works have never been shown in theaters they may be interpreted as failures?

Al Pacino: The truth is, they could have been released. Distributors wanted to release them. But Fox Searchlight Pictures and I came to the conclusion that it was better for the films to be released on DVD. It's like putting out a paperback instead of a hardback. Our world has changed; DVDs have become more acceptable now. When we consider the film, we have to consider what we've got and not pretend it's something else. We're not pretending these movies are going to compete with other movies in theaters.

Q 12

PLAYBOY: Would you say The Local Stigmatic, a violent, dense film about two Cockney lowlifes, is a good date film?

Al Pacino: [Laughs] If you happen to be a resident of a mental institution and you get breaks periodically. It's only 52 minutes long. Maybe if you take your nurse or psychiatrist.