Summary
- Keanu Reeves took a $2 million pay cut to work with Al Pacino in Devil's Advocate, showing his dedication to the project.
- The film initially had Brad Pitt in the lead role, but he and director Joel Schumacher decided against it due to script problems.
- Despite rumors of Reeves struggling with his lines on set, he had a fantastic experience working with Pacino, raising his game in the process.
With over a dozen films in his extensive film repertoire raking in over $100 million each at the box office, Keanu Reeves' bankability as a movie star has never really been up for debate. However, unlike most, Reeves isn't exactly losing sleep over his colossal earnings. From generously donating to charity, to diving into indie projects, and turning down multi-million-dollar film projects, the 58-year-old has demonstrated time and again just how little is eye-watering $350 million net worth fazes him.
So, it was hardly a shocker when reports surfaced that Reeves, hell-bent on sharing the screen with Hollywood legend Al Pacino, decided to hack off a whopping $2 million from his Devil's Advocate paycheck. While both Reeves and Pacino have kept mum about this intriguing move, there's still one lingering question that remains unanswered: Did Reeves take the massive pay cut willingly, or did he find himself cornered by Pacino's hefty salary demands?
Keanu Reeves And Al Pacino Starred In The 1997 Film Devil’s Advocate
Based on Andrew Neiderman's gripping novel of the same name, Devil's Advocate intricately weaves the tale of a successful young lawyer who unexpectedly snags a job at a major New York City law firm, only to uncover that the firm's bigwig is Satan. Released in October 1997, the supernatural horror flick stars Keanu Reeves as the sharp-witted Kevin Lomax and Hollywood titan Al Pacino as the cunning John Milton/Satan.
Though Pacino and Reeves both deliver standout performances in the film, they weren't exactly the initial forerunners. The project, which had been floating around Hollywood for quite a while, was initially set to star Brad Pitt, only to undergo a radical cast shake-up at the last minute.
“Brad and I were going to do it,” acclaimed director Joel Schumacher told Los Angeles Times of the film ahead of its October debut. “All the sets were designed, and we were practically ready to go but we couldn’t find someone right for the devil’s role.”
Though a fascinating project, Schumacher and Pitt ultimately decided against it, citing script problems. “It was this very dark, seductive tale about the power of evil. I remember one incredible scene where Brad would have been chased through the different levels of New York’s subway system with each level being a level of hell in ‘Dante’s Inferno,’” Schumacher explained.
“But the script needed work and I knew that Brad was on the cusp of his breakthrough as a star. I didn’t want to take any chances for him. That was a key reason why I decided to pass. So did he.”
Keanu Reeves Had To Take A $2 Million Pay Cut To Work Alongside Al Pacino In Devil’s Advocate
With Brad Pitt no longer in the running for the lead role, director Taylor Hackford turned to Hollywood legend Al Pacino, only to be met with a total of three unequivocal rejections. Pacino would later share his first impression of the project in a retrospective published by New York Daily News.
“Right from the start, I could feel there was something on Taylor’s mind,” he said. "Something he feels he can go after. It's a sense you just get from some people, and Taylor has it. But the very first time I saw the script, it wasn't complete.”
Fortunately, after several script edits, Pacino finally embraced the project. “Then that thing Taylor was reaching for, it finally started manifesting itself in the script,” Pacino revealed per New York Daily News. “Suddenly it became a challenge. [But] you want a challenge in this business, you want to see if you can reach what you’re going for.”
However, tweaking the script wasn’t nearly enough to hook the Hollywood legend onto the project, as he promptly tossed in some salary demands that left the studio’s $57 million budget running for cover. It was at this point that Keanu Reeves made one of the most legendary "nice guy" moves of his career: forfeiting a staggering $2 million of his salary just so the studio could afford Pacino.
“I’d rather people didn’t know that,” Reeves said of the highly endearing move in an 2019 press conference. “It was a private transaction. It was something I could afford to do, a worthwhile thing to do.”
How Did Keanu Reeves Feel About Working With Al Pacino In Devil’s Advocate?
After coughing up a substantial chunk of his paycheck to share the screen with his idol, you'd expect that Keanu Reeves had the time of his life filming Devil's Advocate. However, almost a year before the film's release, sources revealed to Los Angeles Times that Reeves was constantly fumbling is lines on set, much to Pacino’s chagrin.
“Keanu is a sweet guy and may be a star, but he’s screwing up his lines right and left and the accent is so bad there’s been talk of dubbing it in,” one source revealed. “It’s driving Pacino nuts. Everyone suspects Al is disgusted, wants out and that’s why he’s always late.”
However, producer Arnold Kopelson promptly discredited these sources. “Keanu is very serious about being the best he can be in this movie,” he said. “He does not flub his lines. He is supposed to be from the South and has a slight accent.”
The acclaimed producer's claims were later corroborated by Keanu Reeves, who, in a subsequent interview, appeared more than satisfied with the deal he’d struck to secure Al Pacino's role in the film. “I knew by working with [Mr Pacino] I could only raise my game, so to speak,” he said, according to Fandomwire. “We work in totally different ways but our relationship was, for me anyway, fantastic. I had some of the best times of my life with him.”
