By Arthur Flynn
One of the top American male stars guaranteed to bring in large audiences was Al Pacino. His range of top films included The Godfather (1, 2 & 3), Scarface, The Merchant of Venice, Dog Day Afternoon, Dick Tracey and Glengarry Glen Ross.
One of Pacino’s most unusual and strongest films was Scent of a Woman in 1992. In this he played a blind character Lt. Col. Frank Slade, an irritable retired Army officer. The American drama was produced and directed by Martin Brest. It was a remake of Dino Risi’s 1974 Italian film Profumo di donna, adapted by Goldman from the novel Il buio e il miele (Italian: Darkness and Honey) by Giovanni Aipino and from the 1974 screenplay by Ruggero Maccari and Dino Risi.
The film for Universal Pictures had a budget of $31 million. The production team was headed by musician by Thomas Newman, editors William Steinkamp, Michael Tronick and Harvey Rosenstock. Mikael Salomon was cinematographer but was replaced by Donald E. Thorin after ten days of filming.
A good deal of research went on to arrive at the best cast. The first choice for the role of Frank Slade was Jack Nicholson but it eventually went to Al Pacino. A string of young actors were auditioned for the role of Charlie Simms including Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Brendan Fraser before Chris O’Donnell secured it.
