The makers of Donnie Brasco must’ve thought they couldn’t lose when they scored this cast. The Oscar-nominated script was written by Paul Attanasio, coming off his only other Oscar nomination, for Quiz Show. It was loaded with insider Mafia language, the kind of slang that actors love to play with, and that’s what helped to land Al Pacino. It’s a rich cast of familiar faces. Perhaps too familiar, because despite strong reviews the film struggled to find an audience because the marketing couldn’t convey how this was different from other gangster pictures. It’s now regarded as a minor classic, with some of Pacino, Johnny Depp and Michael Madsen’s best work.
There are two small moments that stick out to me, one in the script and one that happened in post-production. During a breakfast scene where Donnie tries to connect to his kids that are not speaking to them, he makes a bet that he will get three words out of them. One daughter takes a long pause before replying, “You lose.” This is the power of being the writer, as opposed to real life. You get to set up your own verbal victories. Brasco specifically says “three words” to set up the punchline. The other moment is during this scene. Bruno Kirby says “lot of parking meters down in Florida,” and Madsen backhands him in the nose, but the punch sound doesn’t match the soft tap. I’m curious to know how this mismatch happened.
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