Scarface: 11 Behind the Scenes Stories of a Criminal Masterpiece

Ever wondered why Tony Montana, the Cuban refugee played by Al Pacino, had so much swagger even before he became a kingpin? Maybe it’s in the name.

Scarface screenwriter Oliver Stone wrote in his excellent memoir, Chasing the Light, that Pacino was named for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana, a picture of self-assurance.

Sure, maybe as a Spanish speaker Tony should have been named not montaña, which is Spanish for mountain. But then again mountains were well-represented in Scarface by the many piles of white powder in Tony’s villa.

Stone wrote that a certain word starting with F appears in Scarface 183 times. He also said that actress Joan Collins once joked, “I’ve heard that there are 183 f—-s in the movie, which is more than most people get in a lifetime.”

Michelle Pfeiffer scored the role of Elvira, the at-first reluctant wife of Tony, over many of Hollywood’s top actresses even though her biggest role at the time had been Grease 2. She truly sacrificed for the role.

“Did I feel hot? No, actually, I was hungry,” she said on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight in 2012. “I was playing a coke addict and I couldn’t eat. And by the end of it…it went long. You know, it was supposed to be probably a four month shoot and it — it stretched out to six months. And I was really hungry by the end of it.”

She was outstanding, but we’re sorry to hear that.

Robert De Niro said in a joint interview with Pacino for GQ in 2019, that he remembered urging Pacino to make Scarface, telling him, “if you don’t do it, I’m gonna do it,”

Pacino, meanwhile, said he remembers that De Niro and Martin Scorsese were “playing with the idea” of a Scarface movie. 

It’s one of many times Pacino and De Niro nearly played each other’s roles.

That’s Pacino above with Scarface cinematographer John A. Alonzo.

For all the drugs his character did, Pacino — seen above with Scarface director Brian De Palma — took a pass, according to Stone.

“It surprised me that Al had never snorted cocaine or known anything about drugs,” Stone wrote in his memoir, adding that producer Martin Bregman told him Pacino “had a serious alcohol problem when younger but was now completely dry. Yet he had no problem behaving onscreen like the ultimate coke addict.”

Not that surprising, really — Pacino is one of the greatest actors of all.

While Pacino was wise to avoid hoovering actual cocaine, his alternative also had its problems.

He told FOX 5 Washington DC in 2015 that the fake drugs he snorted also did some damage:

“I knew that with Scarface, they combined it with stuff. I mean, not narcotics. Something else. To cut it down. But for years after that, I have had things up in there. I don’t what happened to my nose, but it’s changed. My breathing apparatus has been sort of altered a little,” he said.

Stone wrote in his memoir that De Palma (above, with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) had “suffered a significant financial setback with Blow Out,” his previous film, and believed that Scarface had the potential to be “a big commercial film.”

It ended up being the 16th highest-grossing films of 1983 — but also one of the most memorable. Stone says it was initially considered “more of a flop than a success,” but that he soon realized it had staying power and influence.

Though Scarface is one of our favorite Brian De Palma movies — and we love Brian De Palma movies — Stone wrote in his memoir that the director was going through a tough time as he made Scarface.

Stone wrote that the director was “overweight, slow physically, wearing the same copy of a pressed khaki uniform that an engineer might, throughout the production. He was also, from what I gather, in the middle of a divorce from his wife, Nancy Allen, which must not have helped his mood. But he was, no question, brilliant.”

Also, please note that at least in the photo above, De Palma, right, does not appear to be wearing the type of outfit Stone describes.

We love this behind the scenes shot of Pfeiffer and Pacino, looking a lot more relaxed than Elvira and Tony Montana ever did.

Scarface marked the acting debut of the very charismatic Steven Bauer, right, who later played another drug kingpin in Breaking Bad.

The show also cast Scarface veteran Mark Margolis.

And Breaking Bad creator Vince Gillgan’s love of the film was always apparent: He used to famously say that his main character, Walter White, would transform during the series “from Mr. Chips to Scarface.” Which he did.

Scarface is famously violent, but among those who found it a little too violent was Slaughterhouse Five author Kurt Vonnegut, who walked out during the infamous chainsaw scene about half an hour into the film, muttering, “too gory for me.”

Vonnegut always liked to blow minds with ideas, rather than sharp objects, so we’re not too surprised.

That’s Pacino and De Palma above, reading something other than Slaughterhouse Five.

You might also like these Behind the Scenes Images From Dr. No, the First James Bond Movie.

Main image: Michelle Pfeiffer in a 1983 promotional still for Scarface. Universal Pictures.