What better way to make an impression on a legendary actor than scaring the pants off him? In an interview with Still Watching Netflix, actor Stephen Graham opened up about his time working on the drama movie The Irishman. It turns out Graham made a splash in the Martin Scorsese movie – he frightened one of its leading men.
In the 2019 thriller movie, Graham plays the role of Genovese mob capo Tony’ Pro’ Provenzano and has a pretty memorable scene with Al Pacino – who plays the part of Jimmy Hoffa. The two men have a confrontation in prison, and to make the scene as believable as possible, Graham decided to set the mood and surprise his co-star.
“I had a little idea to do something. I didn’t tell Marty, and I didn’t tell Al. I told the cameraman and I asked the props department that ‘I needed bowls of ice cream. Did they have any?'” He explained.
Graham went on to describe filming the scene and how his ice cream plan came into play. “So he [Pacino] is eating the ice cream really slowly, and at the last little mouthful, he puts his spoon down in the bowl, and he just kind of leans back.”
“As he did that, I just leaned across, and I lashed his ice cream bowl right across the room, and I went to jump across the table. And he just went ‘Whoah!'” the actor continued. “Marty went cut, and he [Pacino] went, ‘Did you see that Marty? That kid frightened me.'”
The star went on to clarify that despite the scare, he and Pacino actually “got on like a house on fire”. So there appears to be no bad blood between the two post-ice cream-gate. To scare Pacino, who is a veteran of threatening films, having worked on flicks such as the action movie Scarface, is no easy task. So kudos to Graham!
Currently, Graham and Pacino have no new movies lined up together. However, fans can look forward to seeing Graham in the upcoming TV series Boiling point – which begins filming in 2023.