Al Pacino's Love Affair with Salome

AL PACINO’S Love Affair with

SALOMÉ

By Henny Buffinga Photos by Linda Carfagno

A

l Pacino, the well-known and highly regarded film director and actor immortalized as Michael Corleone in The Godfather, paid a special visit to Santa Fe this past July to share a project near and dear to his heart: two films centered on Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé.

According to Christian lore, Salomé was the daughter of Herod II who, though not named in the New Testament, is the woman who performed the Dance of the Seven Veils, which led to the death of John the Baptist. The ever flamboyant Wilde took the biblical story one step further: in his play, Salomé takes a fancy for John the Baptist and, when he doesn’t reciprocate her affections, she causes him to be executed. She agrees to perform the seductive veil dance in return for John the Baptist’s head.

Wilde has not been the only artist inspired by Salomé. So too was the operatic master of the 20th century Richard Strauss. His operatic one-act rendition focuses the action on Salomé herself.

And then there’s Pacino in the present-day; he first discovered Salomé in 1988 in London at a staging of Wilde’s play.

There was a lovely confluence of Salomé fandom this past July 18 and 19 when the Santa Fe Opera premiered its production of OPPOSITE Al Pacino TOP LEFT Fine LIfestyles’ Reggie Quintana CENTRE Al Pacino being interviewed by opera director Daniel Slater

Salomé the same weekend Pacino aired his two film productions on the famous vixen at the Center for Contemporary Arts.

The first film Pacino shared is a movie version of a 2006 Los Angeles theater production in which Pacino plays King Herod opposite Jessica Chastain as Salomé. The second film, Wild Salomé, is a documentary on Pacino’s infatuation over the years with the legendary lady. “I felt as if I had found a friend, someone I wanted to know,” he says of Salomé in the documentary.

After the showings, a Q&A was conducted between Pacino and Daniel Slater, who conducted the Santa Fe Opera’s production of Strauss’ Salomé. When Fine Lifestyles advertising consultant Reggie Quintana asked Pacino himself, “What do you think of Santa Fe so far?” the star responded, “I love Santa Fe! It’s so comforting – there’s something very comforting about the place.”

Most of us will agree that beyond the comfort of our bustling mountain metropolis, Santa Fe has its own mystique as well; there’s something about our ancient city in which a character like Salomé — whether on the stage or screen — finds resonance.

Whether it’s Wilde, Strauss or Pacino, Salomé still has us smitten.