my life in pictures William Friedkin
Cruising 1980
Al Pacino is a cop on the hunt for a serial killer who is targeting gay men…
“Cruising was… challenging. The world of S&M hadn’t been portrayed in a mainstream movie before – but I don’t think even then people were aware of how far I was prepared to take it. In the end though, I didn’t cut anything from that film that I didn’t want to. I shot about 40 minutes of footage in the leather clubs that I knew the ratings board was going to cut. I knew if I’d left that stuff in they’d have ripped through the entire picture.
“Pacino was not my first choice – I wanted Richard Gere. But Pacino read my script, because he had the same agent, and he really wanted to do it. At the time, Pacino was one of the biggest stars around, so I went with him and I guess it turned out OK.
“I’m currently in the middle of re-grading the colour for the new release. The digital process is so much more accurate now – I’m seeing the picture the way I always wanted to
