20 facts you might not know about 'Scarface'

That original “Scarface” film? It’s much more indebted to the real story of Capone, whose nickname was indeed “Scarface.” Howard Hawks’ film stars Paul Muni as Tony Camonte, and it was made quite a bit before the 1932 film. Specifically, the original “Scarface” came out in 1932.

Pacino saw Hawks’ “Scarface” and got the idea about making a remake. He brought the project to his manager Martin Bregman, and together they produced the film.

The first person attached to direct the film? That would be Sidney Lumet, who had directed the seminal Pacino movie “Dog Day Afternoon.” It was actually Lumet who pitched the idea of moving the action from 1920s Chicago to 1980s Miami. He also suggested making Tony Montana a Cuban immigrant. His whole concept was that cocaine in ‘80s Miami was the modern equivalent of alcohol during Prohibition.

In addition to directing “Dog Day Afternoon,” he directed movies like “12 Angry Man” and “Network.” He was not against putting messages and politics into film, clearly. Lumet wanted that in “Scarface,” hoping to make a political film that would blame the Reagan administration for the rise in cocaine. It was Bregman who didn’t like that idea and decided to replace Lumet.

“Scarface” is an R movie dripping in swearing, violence, and insanity. If you know anything about the creative team behind the movie, that won’t be surprising. The film ended up being directed by Brian De Palma, one of the most stylistic filmmakers ever. He had previously directed films like “Carrie” and “Dressed to Kill.” Meanwhile, the screenplay was written by Oliver Stone. Stone was early in his career at this point, but he would go on to make films like “JFK” and “Natural Born Killers.”

When Stone was beginning the process of putting together his script for “Scarface” he was himself dealing with cocaine addiction. In fact, Stone ended up moving to Paris when he needed to write the screenplay because he did not believe he could kick his habit if he remained in the United States.

Even though Pacino had the idea for remaking “Scarface,” it was not a given that he was going to star. In fact, Robert De Niro was offered the role of Tony Montana but turned it down. Eventually, Pacino would put his foot down and insist on starring.

The role of the female lead in “Scarface” is not a particularly robust role, but it was still important t to the film. A ton of actresses were considered for the part, including Geena Davis, Melanie Griffith, and Sharon Stone. Glenn Close was actually the original first choice as well. Eventually, Michelle Pfeiffer got the part.

At the time they were casting “Scarface,” Pfeiffer was far from a big name. She had been in a flop “Animal House” adaptation for television called “Delta House,” where her character was just called “The Bombshell.” While she did star in “Grease 2,” that film came out in 1982, the same year they started filming “Scarface.” Both Pacino and De Palma did not want Pfeiffer for the role of Elvira, but Bregman kept fighting for her. Eventually, he won out.

Bauer showed up to audition for Manny, but he didn’t end up having to do much beyond that. The casting director Alixe Gordon saw him and basically immediately declared he was perfect for Manny. This was something that De Palma and Bregman actually agreed with. By the way, Bauer is the only actual Cuban in the principal cast of “Scarface.”

To answer that question, no, but we mentioned it for a reason. In “Breaking Bad,” Bauer plays drug kingpin Don Eladio. One of his right-hand men in Hector Salamanca, played by Mark Margolis. Both men are in this film, with Margolis playing one of Alejandro Sosa’s henchmen.

The immigration officers who interrogate Tony at the beginning of the movie? Their voices are provided, uncredited, by Charles Durning and Dennis Franz. The two were regular collaborators of De Palma, which is how they ended up with those roles. Durning also was in “Dog Day Afternoon” as well.

In order to play Montana, Pacino trained to learn how to use a knife. He also got himself into shape by working with legendary boxer Roberto Duran. Also, in spite of the fact a lot of people make jokes about Pacino’s accent in “Scarface,” he worked with a dialect coach and got help from Bauer as well to try and hone his Cuban accent.

Even though “Scarface” is set in Miami, it was primarily not shot there. The Miami Tourist Board declined the film’s request to shoot there, worrying it would make the city look bad since it’s about drugs and gangsters. Instead, they primarily shot in Los Angeles.

During a fight scene, Pacino fell. This wouldn’t necessarily be an issue, but when he fell his left hand landed on a gun that had just been fired. This burnt his hand, and production had to be shut down for a week while he recovered. Pacino also damaged his nasal passages thanks to all the drug scenes in the film.

Steven Spielberg was visiting the set of “Scarface” while they were shooting the famous gunfight at the end of the film. Since an acclaimed director was around, De Palma figured he’d put him to work. Spielberg was behind the camera for one shot of the film, probably just as a lark for two directing contemporaries.

As we said, the violence and language are intense in “Scarface.” In fact, the movie was originally given an X rating, which is now known as an NC-17 rating. This was a problem because it limited not just the number of people who could see it, but the number of theaters that would screen it and the number of newspapers that would advertise it. De Palma recut the movie three times, but couldn’t get it below the X rating. Eventually, they brought “Scarface” to an appeals board, and that board overturned the MPAA’s original decision, giving the film an R rating.

These days, “Scarface” is a cult classic and its poster is iconic. At the time, though, it was not a big success. With a budget somewhere between $23 and $37 million, the film made $66 million worldwide. It was only the 16th-highest-grossing movie of 1983, and actually only the seventh-highest-grossing R-rated film in North America that year.

Even if you have never seen “Scarface,” you know one line from it. That would be “Say hello to my little friend!” You’ve likely heard somebody say that at some point in your life, perhaps with them imitating Pacino’s flawed Cuban accent. That quote finished 61st on AFI’s top-100 quotes list. It also was 10th on AFI’s top-10 gangster movies list. Funnily enough, the 1932 version of “Scarface” finished sixth on that list.

Hollywood has been planning to go back to the “Scarface” well for a while. Universal first announced plans for another remake in 2011. Since then, several different directors and writers have been attached. As of the last update, the movie is still in the works, with Luca Guadagnino attached to direct a script written by the Coen Brothers.