Here's What Ali Fazal Said On Meeting Al Pacino: I Was Really Starstruck

Ali Fazal, who will soon be seen in Mirzapur: The Movie has shared the story of one of the most unforgettable moments of his career - not on a film set, but as a lifelong fan finally meeting his biggest cinematic hero, Hollywood legend Al Pacino. Despite having worked with several acclaimed international stars over the years, including Dame Judi Dench in Victoria & Abdul, Vin Diesel in Furious 7 and Gerard Butler in Kandahar, Fazal admits there was only one actor who left him completely starstruck."The buck stops there," Fazal told Variety, while recalling his encounter with Pacino. "I have chased that man since I was a kid. I remember that in my hostel I would list every film of his I wanted on the wall because they weren't easily available.

Somehow, I would manage to get those films and watch them."

The meeting happened in London during the premiere of Martin Scorsese's The Irishman. Fazal, who was in the city filming Death on the Nile, almost missed the event after confusing the dates. He revealed he realised just 20 minutes before the gates opened and couldn't get a cab, so he just put on his suit and ran. “It was so filmi!"But his frantic dash turned out to be worth it. According to Fazal, the doors opened, and he went straight to the bar because he needed water. The actor turned to his right, and Pacino was standing right there, smiling at him. "That was the first time I was really starstruck by someone," the actor said.The actor explained that meeting Pacino as a fan felt very different from sharing screen space with global stars. "When you're working with somebody, it's enriching because you're focused on the craft. But here, I wasn't working with him. I was just a fan," he said.The two eventually struck up a conversation, with theatre becoming the common ground between them. Fazal told Pacino about his work, and the Oscar-winning actor responded enthusiastically. "He's always been a huge champion of Shakespeare and has such a massive body of work in theatre apart from cinema," Fazal said.Fazal also confessed that his admiration for Pacino bordered on obsession during his younger days. "I used to tell my friends all the trivia about him, like how many auditions he had to do for The Godfather. I was really obsessed with him."For an actor who has built an impressive international résumé, sharing screen space with Hollywood heavyweights has become part of the job. But meeting Al Pacino, Fazal says, remains one moment where he wasn't a fellow actor - he was simply a fan living out a dream.