“I think I’ve leaned too much on the clandestine thing. It was a phase I was going through” - Al Pacino, 1989.

Years later, he claimed that he would’ve ended up a short order cook had Diane Keaton not convinced him to take Sea of Love. First drafted by screenwriter Richard Price in 1986, the role of Frank Keller was intended for Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman and Price were slated to work double projects together after the actor enlisted his services for Rain Man the following year.

Hoffman demanded extensive rewrites of both scripts. After six fruitless weeks, Price turned Rain Man over to more accommodating hands, and Hoffman set Sea of Love adrift by quitting. The film lay dormant for a year. In 1988, Price personally delivered his revised script to Pacino, who let his lines lie, and breathed into them the desperate air of midlife melancholy that they demanded.