FILM 1437: CARLITO'S WAY
TRIVIA: The exterior of the
hospital where Carlito visits his bedridden attorney is the same one where Vito
Corleone is taken in The Godfather
(1972), also starring Al Pacino.
The name of Carlito's (Al Pacino's) nightclub is
"El Paraíso", the same name as the food stand that Pacino's character
operated in Scarface
(1983).
Al Pacino and Penelope Ann Miller became
romantically involved during filming. Miller spoke publicly about their romance
in interviews. But Pacino was in a relationship with Lyndall Hobbs at the time.
Pacino attended the film's premiere with Hobbs and avoided Miller entirely.
According to Brian De Palma, Sean Penn demanded 30
takes of the shot of Kleinfeld asking Carlito to help him with Tony T's escape.
When De Palma wanted to move on to the next shot, Penn screamed at De Palma. He
continued to yell at De Palma on the ride back to New York City. He later
called De Palma on the phone to continue yelling at him. De Palma said that was
the only argument they had on the film.
John Leguizamo turned down
the part of Benny Blanco four times. He finally took the role after Brian De Palma allowed
Leguizamo to improvise much of his lines.
According to John Leguizamo in his
autobiography, he and Penelope Ann
Miller did not get along during filming. He claims he got revenge on
her by having the wardrobe department take in her clothes an inch at a time
causing Miller to go on a crash diet.
When the mob guys stop Carlito at
the club and had him sit down to size them up, they joke with him about looking
Italian. In actuality Al Pacino
(Carlito) is Italian-American.
