“The kid frightened me”: Al Pacino Was Sh**ting Bricks When One Actor Decided to Improvise While the Scene Was Being Shot in ‘The Irishman’

The 84-year-old multiple times Oscar nominee and winner Al Pacino has never ceased to leave his audience amused by his performances, be it through his iconic crime-action projects or his dramatic masterpieces. If anything, he is one of the greatest and most influential actors of the 20th century, best known for his perfectly channeled intimidating demeanor onscreen.

And yet, his younger co-star managed to leave him baffled and “frightened” to the core while working on their critically commended crime-mystery gem of a piece from 2019, The Irishman. This ‘younger co-star’ was the 51-year-old Stephen Graham, who improvised one fan-favorite scene from the movie so tremendously that even Pacino couldn’t hide being nervous about it!

Stephen Graham Took Al Pacino By Surprise While Shooting The Irishman

Everyone who has been keeping up with Al Pacino‘s works for the screens ever since his Oscar-nominated performance as Michael Corleone in 1972’s The Godfather must know just how famous the actor is for portraying tough, menacing Mafia-like guys. So much so that it even makes his offscreen personality seem daunting to many.

However, while others might be scared and apprehensive about working with him, his 51-year-old British co-star Stephen Graham wasn’t. If anything, Graham gave it his all while working with Pacino. This happened while the two were working together on the 2019 masterpiece with a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, The Irishman.

As it turns out, Graham even ended up scaring his 30 years older legendary co-star when he decided to improvise one of the most iconic scenes from the crime-thriller. This scene was the prison fight one, where Graham’s Anthony Provenzano walks up to an ice cream-devouring Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino) to talk to him “about a problem I got with my pension.”

But this scene wasn’t easy to shoot. While Pacino, who “owe[d] me 2 million quids,” only had to sit there, slowly relish his ice cream, and talk, Graham had to act suddenly to get a reaction out of him. Thus, while the scene seemingly didn’t sit well in the first two takes, on the third take, Graham devised a plan to improvise the scene most immaculately.

During an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, the Boiling Point star shared how they shot the same, saying:

I’d already planned this, but I told the cameraman and I told the props fella. And [Pacino]’s eating it, then he just puts his ice cream down, he’s looking at me, and I just went [makes angry swapping motion with his hand]. And I threw the bowl right across the room and he went, ‘Oh!’ And then, we carried on a little bit, and then Marty [Scorsese] went, ‘Cut!’

As seen in the movie, this take ostensibly made the final cut as it showed a perfectly scared Pacino after Graham’s character trashes his ice cream and jumps on top of him to brawl him out of anger. And, ironically enough, that reaction was as genuine as could be, as even the actor himself admitted that Graham had “frightened” him with his act.

As the This Is England star continued to confess during the interview how Pacino reacted afterward to filmmaker Martin Scorsese:

[Pacino] went, ‘Did you see that, Martin? The kid frightened me! He frightened me!’ And then, from then on, he called me The Kid.

Of course, this scene was as iconic as it could get, and a majority of the credit for this goes to none other than Graham himself for the beyond-outstanding acting chops he brought to the sets. That being said, fans can’t help but express just how tremendous and truly underrated of an actor the Bodies star is, delving into immense praise for him for the same.

Fans React to Stephen Graham’s Critically Brilliant Performance

Recently, @cineatomy took to Instagram to reshare this four-year-old clip of Stephen Graham from the interview to remind fans that the mastermind even left the great Al Pacino scared to the core once. Taking to the comment section of the same, fans are pointing out just how praise-worthy of an actor Graham truly is, saying:

Absolutely superb actor. His range of work is incredible. He also played Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire many years ago. Can put him in anything and he’ll flourish, top top actor. 😁” ~ @tezzarhw

“Solid, subtle Pacino impression w/ the “Ohhh!” ~ @derekkirknason

“Stephen Graham, he is without question one of the greatest of British actors ever 👌” ~ @johncawalters

“Most underrated actor in the industry” ~ @rowaann91

“Sir Stephen Graham. Love him.” ~ @djspoony

“Stephen is one our best act he’s truly amazing ❤️❤️” ~ @paulaupton48

“Genuinely a joy to watch home grown British talent going to toe to toe with Pacino in that scene. One of my faves 🙌👏❤️” ~ @babscooks

Unarguably enough, Graham is indeed one of the best acting talents the entertainment industry could ever be gifted with, and all these fan reactions are only further proof of just how much more he deserves to be appreciated and commended for the breathtaking performances he always delivers to the table.

You can watch The Irishman on Netflix.