According to the trivia section on the movie. Hitchcock wanted Al Pacino for George Lumley. Pacino passed on it because his asking price was too high. He should have taken the part. He would have been great. Plus since Pacino was such hot stuff around the time this movie was made, it probably would have helped the film's publicity.
Bruce Dern did great, but Al Pacino would have been more enjoyable.
Pacino might not have played the role so comedically as Dern did. Arguably, the film would have been just as good, however, the audience would see a completely different character.
Twenty pounds of brown sugar!share
I disagree. Al Pacino was at his best during this time, having just made two all time classics. This movie is a big step down from The Godfather 2 and Dog Day Afternoon..
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Oh you mad cuz I'm stylin on you
What?! Are you KIDDING?!!! NO Hitchcock film is a step DOWN from ANY film!!!! And Pacino could NOT have done comedy. It's just as well that Bruce Dern did the part. PLUS, his chemistry with Barbara Rush was near PERFECT!
shareNO Hitchcock film is a step DOWN from ANY film
"So you're trying to argue that.. all Hitch's movies are better than all other? "
That's not what he said. He said that a Hitchcock film isn't a step down from any other film. So many films may be on the same level as his, but in his rightful opinion, Hitchcock's is certainly no worse off and should be held in at least the same regards as any other classics.
I have no idea why just because you couldn't read you have to call somebody ignorant and/or a troll. That was pointless.
Apparently you're not reading either, because that's not at all what he said.
NO Hitchcock film is a step DOWN from ANY film.
I agree that Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris work beautifully together and have great chemistry. Regarding Pacino in the role -- who knows? It would have been a different movie.
shareWell, if Pacino had taken the role, the film would have had more box office appeal. None of the cast here were really top stars, let's face it.
shareHitchcock evidently pitched the roles in "Family Plot" to a number of stars. Universal brass stayed quiet while Hitchcock pitched...but may not have been willing to pay for them had they accepted.
And boy, was Hitchcock asking some then-big people to take roles:
Al Pacino OR Jack Nicholson for George Lumley
Faye Dunaway for "Fran"
Burt Reynolds OR Roy Scheider for Adamson
Had Hitchcock landed Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway for "Family Plot," they would have been reunited after the extremely well-received "Chinatown."
And there-in lay the rub: Nicholson and Dunaway were likely very leery of working for the aged, slightly irrelevant Hitchcock after they made something as "major" as Chinatown.
Another problem for Hitchcock is that the four lead roles in "Family Plot" are rather equally weighted. Guys like Pacino, Nicholson, and Reynolds were used to being the ONLY star of their stories; why share the screen with three to four other stars?
Anyway, one by one, all of the afore-mentioned stars or their agents turned Hitchcock down. Only Faye Dunaway and Roy Scheider actually spoke of doing so.(Dunaway chose "Network" instead, and it won her the Oscar; Scheider opted for a "Janet Leigh as Marion Crane"-type short murder victim role in "Marahton Man" with Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier...and William Devane.)
Irony: the actors Hitchcock chose instead, while hardly "big stars" were all good in their own ways, and all connected to "New Hollywood":
Bruce Dern was "a back-up Jack Nicholson"(and he knew it), and had acted with Nicholson in "The King of Marvin Gardens" for director Bob Rafelson("Five Easy Pieces.")
Karen Black had been in "Five Easy Pieces"(Oscar nominated) and in "Nashville" for director Robert Altman.
Barbara Harris had also been in "Nashville"(practically stealing the movie with a singing performance at the end) for Robert Altman.
William Devane had been in Robert Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and had just made a splash as JFK in the TV docu-drama "The Missiles of October"(about the Cuban Missile Crisis, which had been the subject of Hitchcock's "Topaz.")
All four were charismatic and quirky actors, with very distinctive voices and faces in the Hitchcock tradition. Its a good cast...its just not a starry cast.
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Pacino and Nicholson were "prestige heavyweights" who were only going to work in the most major modern productions of the mid-seventies. Poor Alfred Hitchcock(despite a nice recent comeback with the starless "Frenzy" of 1972), no longer seemed like the kind of guy who could make a classic or a hit.
What's interesting is that I'm not sure Nicholson's THE FORTUNE, THE PASSENGER and GOIN' SOUTH, and Pacino's BOBBY DEERFIELD -- all made around the same time as FAMILY PLOT -- are more fondly remembered today than Hitchcock's film.
In fact I'll venture they aren't.
What's interesting is that I'm not sure Nicholson's THE FORTUNE, THE PASSENGER and GOIN' SOUTH, and Pacino's BOBBY DEERFIELD -- all made around the same time as FAMILY PLOT -- are more fondly remembered today than Hitchcock's film.
In fact I'll venture they aren't.
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I'd tend to agree. Hitchcock's fame seems to have actually grown in the years following the release of Family Plot. He died in 1980, and the years 1983-1984 saw the well-regarded re-release of five "withheld" Hitchcock classics, including two of the Big Ones -- Rear Window and Vertigo.
Then came cable TV Hitchcock marathons and DVD collections and by now, Family Plot is likely much more popular and well-known than on release.
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But Hitchcock's problem -- despite the comeback of Frenzy in 1972 -- was his timing.
He was pitching Family Plot to Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway not long after Chinatown, and to Nicholson while he was prepping Cuckoo's Nest.
He was pitching Family Plot to Redford not long after The Sting -- a blockbuster.
He was pitching Family Plot to Pacino after Big Al had scored with two Godfathers, a Serpico and a Dog Day Afternoon.
He was pitching Family Plot to Roy Scheider as Scheider had just had his blockbuster breakthrough with Jaws(and a competing offer on the more prestigious "Marathon Man.")
He was pitching Family Plot to Burt Reynolds not too long after Burt had his biggest hit with The Longest Yard(a movie Hitchcock liked so much that three of its actors OTHER than Reynolds are in Family Plot.)
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Had Hitchcock waited a couple of years, guys like Nicholson and Pacino would have "cooled down" with those movies above. Burt Reynolds flopped twice for Bogdanovich(At Long Last Love and Nickelodeon), the "save" of Smokey was not yet on his calendar. And Roy Scheider eventually cooled down too.
Oh, well. Life is timing. At least Hitchcock had the courage of his convictions...he requested that offers be made to these "biggest of the big." Proudly.
The irony is: the Family Plot four are pretty damn good. Great I'd say...with the exception of Karen Black, who at least had some major films on her resume by then.