‘I Didn’t Understand How Money Worked’

October 20

‘I Didn’t Understand How Money Worked’

Al Pacino Went Broke After Blowing $50 Million on 16 Cars, 23 Cellphones And $400K For Landscaping: ‘I Didn’t Understand How Money Worked’

Al Pacino, one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, didn’t get into acting for the money. But over the years, despite starring in classics like The Godfather and Scarface, he managed to blow through his millions, ultimately finding himself in a serious financial mess.

In his memoir Sonny Boy, Pacino admits he wasn’t just bad with money – he was terrible. At one point, his financial situation became so dire that he had to take on roles in movies like Jack and Jill, a film he openly admits he did for one reason: he was broke.

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How Did Al Pacino Go Broke?

You might wonder how someone who reached the heights of stardom, collecting millions, could lose it all. In Pacino’s case, his poor money management and extravagant lifestyle led to his downfall. In his memoir, he reveals just how bad it got. “I had about ninety grand in the bank and that was it,” he wrote, sharing that he was spending a fortune without much coming in.

In fact, he was dropping around $400,000 a month – a sum that included maintaining two homes, multiple apartments and even an office. “I was spending $400,000 a month and didn’t know it was happening. You’ve got to be dumb,” he wrote. He elaborated, “I had property but I didn’t have any money … The kind of money I was spending and where it was going was just a crazy montage of loss.”

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He joked about his ridiculous spending on landscaping at a house he didn’t even live in, forking over $400,000 a year to trim the lawn.

Pacino admits that while he could blame everyone from his accountants to his manager, the real issue was that he didn’t know a thing about how money worked. He says, “I didn’t understand how money worked, any more than I understood how a career worked. It was a language I just didn’t speak.”

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The “Jack and Jill” Debacle

By 2011, Pacino’s money woes hit rock bottom. His accountant had been running a Ponzi scheme and as Pacino later found out, was sentenced to prison. That left him in financial free fall. “I had fifty million dollars and then I had nothing,” Pacino wrote, reflecting on just how quickly the money disappeared. Faced with mounting expenses, Pacino took on projects purely for financial reasons.

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One of those projects was Jack and Jill, the 2011 Adam Sandler film widely panned by critics (it holds a 3% score on Rotten Tomatoes). In the movie, Pacino plays an over-the-top version of himself, starring in a fake Dunkin’ Donuts commercial that left audiences cringing. So why did he do it? Pacino candidly admitted, “It came at a time in my life that I needed it because it was after I found out I had no more money.”

Despite the film’s failure, Pacino takes it all in stride. And while many fans thought the Dunkin’ Donuts ad from Jack and Jill was real, he later clarified, “You know how many people think I actually made that commercial?”

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From Extravagance to Downsizing

Pacino’s spending habits were the stuff of legend. He spent money on 16 cars, owned 23 cellphones and, at the height of his wealth, was maintaining a lifestyle that, in today’s dollars, would have been close to $900,000 a month. But when his funds ran dry, he had no choice but to downsize. He sold one of his homes, did commercials for Australian TV and even began giving seminars to make ends meet.

His financial recovery took time, but Pacino has regained his footing, partly thanks to his more recent projects. His deal with HBO, for instance, saw him earning $10 million per movie, with three films under his belt already. Additionally, his role in The Irishman in 2019, directed by Martin Scorsese, earned him a hefty $20 million paycheck.

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A Lesson in Financial Responsibility

Now in his 80s, Pacino admits that he has learned some hard lessons about money management. “Scarface” remains his most lucrative film and to this day, the residuals from the movie help support him. “I can live on it, I mean, I could, if I lived like a normal person,” he wrote with a touch of humor.

But perhaps the most telling part of his story is that even someone as successful as Al Pacino can make mistakes when it comes to money. And while his roles in films like Jack and Jill might not be remembered fondly, they serve as a reminder that even the greatest actors aren’t immune to financial challenges.

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