In 1995, director Michael Mann brought together legendary crime actors Al Pacino and Robert De Niro for a character piece that had, at its centre, a legendary diner scene. With a bottle of Tomato Ketchup between them, and the hustle and bustle of a busy restaurant soundtracking the scene, we watch Neil and Hanna go toe to toe with one another, in a conversation containing mutual respect.
But would the scene be better with semi-decent impressions at its centre? Ellis plays Pacino, bringing the rough, shouty, aggressive version of Al that’s more “hoo-hah” than disciplined LAPD detective. Gareth plays De Niro, and like any good De Niro impression is driven by the faces he pulls1. Do we grasp the shared confessional feeling the script evokes, and do we give better performances than the Oscar winners (we don’t)? Hit play and find out.
If you want to read along with the episode, or take your own look at Michael Mann’s fantastic writing in the diner scene, then hit this link.
Did you enjoy? There’s plenty more where that came from. We’ve got episodes coming your way where we read iconic scripts from Jurassic Park, When Harry met Sally and more!
Disclaimer:
we mention this episode being filmed, it was, though we recorded it a while back, and seem to have misplaced the video version. Get in touch below if you’d like to see video versions of future episodes
it’s a shame you won’t get to see them
