Does Al Pacino Speak Italian? Is 'The Godfather' Anything to Go By?

Does Al Pacino speak Italian? We set out to investigate whether the New York-born movie star can speak Italian as good as his on-screen characters. Al Pacino has demonstrated exceptional language skills on many occasions.In The Godfather, we watched a fresh-faced Michael Corleone attend a frosty meeting with Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) and do his

Does Al Pacino speak Italian? We set out to examine whether or not the New York-born film famous person can speak Italian as excellent as his on-screen characters.

Leila Kozma - Author

Al Pacino has demonstrated remarkable language abilities on many events. In The Godfather, we watched a fresh-faced Michael Corleone attend a frosty assembly with Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) and do his absolute best to protect his circle of relatives's interests — in Italian. 

The Godfather Part Two treated us to a an identical scene. This time, Michael gave a much-deserved tongue-lashing to Frank Pentangeli — in Sicilian dialect, no much less.

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So, what is the truth? Does Al Pacino speak Italian? 

Although Al amused viewers with his rapid-fire telling-offs and vehement quarreling that may make or damage a gangster film, it's unsure whether or not he could be ready to speak the Italian language fluently outdoor of pre-scripted scenes. 

While the actor has a median Sicilian dialect to boast ⁠— and the ruthless facial expressions to fit it up with ⁠— he hardly ever chooses to speak the language in actual life. 

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In interviews with Italian reporters and television commentators, Al tends to depend on the help of a translator, and he all the time responds to questions posed in Italian with English solutions. 

The 2011 Venice Film Festival noticed the Italian premiere of one in every of his much-acclaimed movies, titled Wilde Salomé. Having been approached by the celebrated R101 at the crimson carpet, Al opted to solution the reporter's questions in his trademark, sparsely-worded sentences — in English. 

As a rare clip shot right through a 2011 red carpet interview with the RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana reveals, Al is pleased with his heritage however. 

"I'm Italian inside. That's why I talk Italian so well, cause [...]" he mentioned, sooner than switching to Italian to elaborate on a couple of key issues. 

"That's me. But I can't speak Italian," he ended the makeshift demonstration.

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"I can speak double-talk Italian," he concluded the reasonably polemical reasoning, a lot to the amusement of the reporter. 

In different phrases, Al does speak sufficient Italian to end up that he doesn't speak the language completely.

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Martin Scorsese realized Italian from his parents. 

As the director of The Irishman defined in an interview with The Washington Post, he had no choice however to be told the language. However, this didn't necessarily paintings in his prefer. 

"I had a real block about speaking Italian because my family forced it on me," Martin instructed the outlet. 

"I don't really speak any language fluently, including English. The proof of that is in my films," he stated. 

Jodie Foster, Marisa Berenson, and Viggo Mortensen are only a few A-listers who speak the language fluently. 

The actress and director brought about a perfect stir all the way through the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Instead of responding in English, Jodie took the chance to show off her language abilities, answering every query about her new movie in pitch-perfect Italian. 

Marisa Berenson travels to Europe on a regular basis — and Italy is considered one of her preferred destinations. The megastar of Barry Lyndon and Cabaret seemed in hardly any Italian-speaking roles. However, she did bear a transformative have an effect on at the style trade of the island once she changed into the inspiration of famed designed, Valentino Garavani. 

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