Al Pacino Only Starred in Infamous Adam Sandler Film Because He Was ‘Broke’

Al Pacino reveals in his new memoir, Sonny Boy (via The Hollywood Reporter), that he only worked with Adam Sandler because he was “broke” and “had nothing” at the time. The Oscar-winning actor played a version of himself in Sandler's critically maligned 2011 comedy Jack and Jill.

In his memoir, Pacino admitted he “had $50 million, and then I had nothing” after falling victim to a Ponzi scheme run by a former celebrity accountant who inevitably served over seven years in prison for the crimes. Pacino said the episode left him “broke,” a combination of his accountant’s malfeasance and overspending on the actor’s own part. He admitted he was “living above” his means at the time.

“The kind of money I was spending and where it was going was just a crazy montage of loss,” Pacino wrote. “In this business, when you make $10 million dollars for a film, it’s not $10 million,” Pacino explained. “Because after the lawyers, and the agents, and the publicist, and the government, it’s not $10 million, it’s four and half [million] in your pocket. But you’re living above that because you’re high on the hog. And that’s how you lose it. It’s very strange, the way it happens. The more money you make, the less you have.”

Due to his financial troubles, Pacino was forced to take roles based on the paycheck rather than the script. The first of these projects was Jack and Jill, in which Sandler plays both eponymous male and female siblings. Pacino plays “himself,” falling in love with Jill while working with PR whizz Jack on a Dunkin commercial for a tie-in product called the Dunkaccino. The film was savaged by critics and swept the Razzies that year; it ultimately made $149 million against a $79 million budget.

“Jack and Jill was the first film I made after I lost my money. To be honest, I did it because I didn’t have anything else,” he admitted. “Adam Sandler wanted me, and they paid me a lot for it. So I went out and did it, and it helped.”

Pacino made sure to add that, while he may not have done the movie under normal circumstances, he has nothing against Sandler. “I love Adam, he was wonderful to work with and has become a dear friend. He also just happens to be a great actor and a hell of a guy.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Pacino struggled to find roles after Jack and Jill. It was at this point that he realized he “wasn’t a young buck” anymore.

“I was not going to be making the kind of money from acting in films that I had made before,” Pacino realized. “The big paydays that I was used to just weren’t coming around anymore. The pendulum had swung, and I found it harder to find parts for myself.”

Around this time, Pacino began charging to give lectures and master classes as a way of making additional income. He also started appearing in commercials, something he’d never done before. He began with a real-life ad for the Dunkaccino, which was actually a Dunkin product for a period of time.

According to Parade, Pacino made about $500,000 for his iconic role in Scarface. Following his 1993 Oscar win for Scent of a Woman, Pacino made $10 million for The Devil’s Advocate (1995). He reportedly made a whopping $20 million for Jack and Jill. Though he experienced a dry patch following that film’s release, Pacino has reportedly cashed some substantial paychecks in the last few years. He apparently snagged another $20 million payday for his role as Jimmy Hoffa in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, and these days makes about $10 million per film.