CruisingLoosely adapted from Gerald Walker’s 1970 novel of the same name, it follows Pacino’s character as a young New York City police officer as he goes undercover at various LGBTQ+ nightclubs to catch a serial killer targeting gay men. Pacino said he signed on to the production because he wanted to be part of a project that “pushed the boundaries.”

However, the actor remembered that Cruising “became highly controversial during production” due to its judgmental portrayal of the queer community. The film sparked protests from LGBTQ+ residents in New York City “almost every day,” and even faced calls for a mass boycott among LGBTQ+ people at the time.

Pacino said he “remained silent” on the controversy despite believing the end product was “exploitative” of the LGBTQ+ community, admitting that “after all, they paid me a lot of money, and I didn’t just throw them in the would make sense.” Instead, he quietly made his donations.

“I didn’t want to make it a PR stunt,” Pacino explained. “I just wanted one positive thing to come out of that whole experience.”