How Al Pacino learned to play blind for Scent of a Woman
To play a sightless retired Army officer, Al Pacino spent time with clients of New York's Associated Blind, especially people who had lost their vision through trauma, hearing how despair gave way to acceptance. Another group taught him to pour a drink and light a cigar without seeing. The role won him an Oscar.
Martin Brest's 1992 drama remakes Dino Risi's Italian film Profumo di donna. Ovidio G. Assonitis bought the rights and first pitched the project at the MIFED market in October 1988, then brought it to Cannon Pictures when he became chairman there. By May 1990 Cannon had a deal with Universal, and Bo Goldman was hired in 1991 to write the script. Brest picked it over a remake of Death Takes a Holiday, a story he later filmed as Meet Joe Black.
Jack Nicholson declined the lead before Pacino signed in 1991. For the teenage companion, hopefuls such as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Brendan Fraser and Chris Rock auditioned before Chris O'Donnell won the part that November. Shooting ran from December 3, 1991 to April 1992, largely in New York State, with Emma Willard School in Troy and Princeton University among the locations.
O'Donnell plays Charlie Simms, a scholarship boy at an elite New England school who takes a Thanksgiving job minding the prickly Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade to pay for a flight home to Oregon. Slade drags him to New York for a final splurge: a luxury hotel, fine dining, a tango with a stranger whose soap he identifies by smell, and a Ferrari test drive in which the blind man takes the wheel. Meanwhile Charlie faces expulsion for refusing to name classmates who pranked the headmaster's Jaguar, until Slade storms the disciplinary hearing with a speech in his defence.
Universal gave it a limited release on December 23, 1992, widening on January 8, 1993. It proved a commercial hit and collected three Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, while earning Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director and adapted screenplay.
Source: Scent of a Woman (1992 film)
