Harmony Korine almost steals the spotlight from Al Pacino—almost

At its worst, David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn is nothing but a showpiece for Al Pacino. At its best, well, it’s a showpiece for Al Pacino, an actor whose roiling rage is a welcome trademark of modern American cinema. Watching Pacino flip over a table or bark at someone to “stop spit-shining” him is always at least sorta fun and thrilling, even if it doesn’t necessarily make for great cinema. Better just to skip the movie and stream the press conference, where Pacino was at his punchy best—or at least, his weirdest.

Pacino attended Sunday’s press conference along with Green and co-stars Holly Hunter and outsider American auteur Harmony Korine, who pops up as a sleazy pimp in Manglehorn. “I don’t usually act,” Korine said. “But when David wrote me and asked if I wanted to do a movie with Al, I didn’t even need to see the script.”

The biggest personality at the press conference was, of course, Pacino, a star so giant that he becomes the centre of gravity in any room. Wearing one billion bracelets, Pacino praised his co-stars, calling working with Korine “one of the greatest experiences of my film life.” After Pacino accidentally knocked over a glass of water on a table, he then proceeded to spill and mop up other water glasses. “And what did they do?!" Pacino yelled, Pacino-like. “They destroyed the press conference! They threw stuff all over the place!"

When things settled down, Pacino rambled at will. But when asked if he felt himself deserving of another Oscar for Best Actor, he was more to the point: “Of course,” he said.