Recently, Al Pacino spoke in an interview about taking a role in Jack & Jill because he was really broke. However, the Oscar and Golden Raspberry-winning acting legend provided more details about this difficult time in his life in his recently released memoir, Sonny Boy. In his statement, he mentioned that the decline of his financial situation was due to his unscrupulous accountant, who was later sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for a Ponzi scheme. This accountant mishandled Pacino's wealth—something the actor had previously not been very concerned about—so poorly that it was virtually wiped out.
Al Pacino first received warnings in 2011 that his then-accountant was not very reliable, as most of the famous clients had left him. In his book, the actor writes that he was paying an absurd amount of money to rent a huge, fancy house in Beverly Hills at that time, and he took his entire family on a grand European tour, flying in a luxury jet and booking an entire floor at the Dorchester Hotel in London. When he returned home to Hollywood, Al Pacino began to suspect something was wrong, as he noticed that his financial situation had not dramatically changed despite spending a fortune on the vacation. "I thought it was a simple equation. Clear as day. I know it. Time has stopped. I'm screwed," the actor writes.
"I was broke. I had 50 million, and then I had nothing. I had properties, but I had no cash," Al Pacino continues, explaining how he eventually looked more closely into his finances and realized that his accountant had deceived him. "When you get 10 million dollars for a movie in this industry, it’s really not 10 million. The lawyers, agents, publicists, and the government all take a cut, so instead of 10 million, you end up with 4.5 million in your pocket. But you rise above that because you live like a fish in water. And that's how you lose it. It’s very strange how that happens. The more money you make, the less you keep."
Al Pacino now recognizes that he managed his wealth quite irresponsibly, mentioning that he paid his gardener $400,000 a year to maintain the garden of a house he didn’t even spend much time in. The actor was particularly affected by his near-bankruptcy because he was no longer a young talent; he was over seventy at the time. "I wasn’t a young bull anymore, and there was no chance I could make enough money from acting in films like I used to. The large sums I had grown accustomed to were a thing of the past. The pendulum had swung, and I was finding it increasingly difficult to land roles."
Before his financial troubles, Pacino took on roles in films that he felt he could genuinely contribute to. He includes titles like Ocean's Thirteen and the 2007 film 88 Minutes, even admitting that the latter ultimately turned out to be "catastrophic." However, after he faced financial ruin, he had to give up his principles and began accepting offers solely because they paid well, including the Adam Sandler film Jack & Jill. In fact, Al Pacino even agreed to do commercials, something he had previously been unwilling to do. (Variety)
