I heard a movie host (TNT or TBS, one of those) claim this last week. They’ve been in the same movie… The Godfather (Parts 2 and 3), and Heat are all I can think of at the moment.
In Heat they even had a conversation at a diner, but according to this guy the scene was shot all single headshots, as they faced each other across a table. Of course he said this after the scene had run, so I didn’t notice. And he went on to say they have yet to share the screen.
Any other movies they’ve both been in? Any scenes where they both appear in the same shot?
I seem to recall that Heat was the first time they were in a scene together, they made a big deal of it at the time. But at no time in that movie do they share the screen, if you don’t count the back of one’s head in an OTS shot of the other. Technically, they could have never been on set together and they still could have filmed it that way.
But I also recall Michael Mann saying that it was a very intense scene to shoot, that they nailed it pretty much out of the box.
Woo! I just picked up the Heat DVD yesterday! Time to scrub through it.
It’s true that the scene was shot with only head shots - but they were all over the shoulder shots, and you can see the back of the other actors head each time. I don’t know if this counts as “sharing the screen.”
Right before the diner scene, Pacino pulls De Niro over and invites him to coffee. There are a few parts of that scene when both of their faces are visible (De Niro in profile), although De Niro’s face is not in focus.
Finally, at the end of the movie (spoiler warning!), when Pacino walks up to De Niro after shooting him, there is an overhead shot where we see De Niro sprawled on the ground as Pacino approaches, both in the frame.
And finally, the very last shot of the movie shows the two men clasping hands. This time, Pacino’s back is to the camera, so again, we don’t get to see both of their faces, in focus, at the same time.
However, I think, overall, there was enough shared screen time in Heat to put to rest the idea that they never shared the screen.
sigh That’s what I get for spending so long watching the scenes (the diner scene is simply amazing). But I think the other two scenes I pointed out from the same movie give my previous post at least a little bit of usefulness.
typhoon: Yes, it switches between head shots. However, as stoli and I pointed out, they are always OTS shots (although occasionally, you can see the entire back of the other actor’s head).
No, this kind of shot can be done with an extra doubling for the actor whose face isn’t visible. As stolychnaya notes, they can film the two actors at different times and edit them together.
As to the pull-over scene, and the death scene, if you can say that the two actor’s faces are clearly and unambiguously showing at the same time, they count. The TV host-guy actually showed a few frames of the pull-over scene, where Pacino’s face appears at the side of the frame. IMHO, that doesn’t count either, as it wasn’t clearly him. Maybe it’s clearer in the widescreen version, tho. The 4:3 aspect ratio showing likely cut off a significant portion of the face.
I don’t think so. One year at the oscars they presented the Best Picture Award together, I think it was the year Forrest Gump came out.
I can’t say for sure because I don’t know them but I’ve never ever read about a fued or any animosity at all. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist but I’m a big De Niro fan so I think I’d have heard about it.
Maybe Mann just wanted to maintain some sort of integrity by keeping them as separate as possible. Is there a DVD commentary?
I captured some relevant images from the DVD and posted them here. Spoilers present, obviously.
IMO the diner scene is inconclusive, but the car scene convinces me that the two actors shared the screen. Theoretically the two could have been shot separately and digitally composited together, but why bother?
Thanks for the screen caps, Tradnor. I didn’t mean to suggest that the players were never together, but rather that I can see how the way that Mann avoids framing them together leads to that rumor.
I continue to see it as a choice borne of the desire to show that these two men have chosen very different life paths. I’ll have to watch this one again soon.
There wouldn’t need to be a feud. Just that two big stars have tight schedules, and it’s tougher to schedule them together than separately. It may also be cheaper to film two stars separately. Fewer cameras, microphones, makeup people, etc. needed. If all you’re going to show is the back of one of their heads, there’s really no need to have the actual star there.
Pacino and DeNiro aren’t feuding. It’s just that the two of them on the screen at the same time would simply be testosterone overload. Too… much… greaseball…
Now if you’ll excuse me, there are some men with baseball bats at my door.
Y’know, it occurred to me after seeing some recent trailers, that Pacino is getting more and more scary as he gets older. His voice is getting raspier and raspier, and the bags under his eyes! My God!
De Niro, on the other hand, seems to be getting less scary, what with making comedies with the likes of Billy Crystal and all. Half the time now he seems to be playing warm and fuzzy roles, not scary ones.