Al Pacino opens up on starring in movie ‘exploitative’ of a community

Al Pacino felt bad about doing the 1980 film Cruising as it was “exploitative” of the gay community.

In her new memoir Sonny Boy, Pacino shared that he donated his paycheck from late director William Friedkin’s film Cruising because he wanted something positive to come out of the experience.

In the film, The Godfather star played a cop that goes undercover and hangs out at gay bars in New York City to find a serial killer suspected of killing gay men.

Pacino says the film “became very controversial during its production,” sharing that there were protestors at the set “almost every day.” He revealed that after watching the movie, he realized it had problems and “remained quiet” instead of promoting it.

Of his paycheck from the film, he wrote, “I took the money, and it was a lot, and I put it in an irrevocable trust fund. I gave it to charities, and with the interest, it was able to last a couple of decades. I don’t know if it eased my conscience, but at least the money did some good.”

He added that he made the donations anonymously to avoid publicity, “I just wanted one positive thing to come out of that whole experience.”

Alongside Pacino, Cruising starred Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox, Don Scardino, Ed O’Neill and Joe Spinell, among others.