15 Things You Didn't Know About 'Scent of a Woman'

A loose adaptation of Giovanni Arpino's novel Il buio e il miele and the 1974 film Profumo di Donna, Scent of a Woman (1992) stars Al Pacino as the bitter, angry, and blind Lt. Col. Frank Slade, a role that earned him his first Oscar. Chris O'Donnell plays Charlie Simms, a prep school student assigned to care for Slade during a Thanksgiving weekend in New York City. Below are some fun facts about the movie, the first to ever premiere on the Starz Network, before you take on the tango and dive into the drama.

1. JACK NICHOLSON TURNED IT DOWN.

Nicholson was originally offered the role of the blind lieutenant colonel but declined after reading the script. However, he had a remarkable 1992, starring in films like Man Trouble, Hoffa, and A Few Good Men.

2. MATT DAMON, BEN AFFLECK, BRENDAN FRASER, AND O'DONNELL'S CO-STARS IN SCHOOL TIES ALL AUDITIONED FOR CHARLIE.

"The entire cast went down to audition for it," Matt Damon recalled in a 1997 Vanity Fair profile. "So I found out about the part when I checked in with my agent to see if anything interesting had come through, and my agent says, 'Here's one with a young role, and... Oh my God, it has Al Pacino!' So I go up to Chris and ask, 'Have you heard of this movie?' and he responds [gruffly], 'Yeah.' So I ask, 'Do you have the script?' 'Yeah.' 'Can I see it?' 'No—I kinda need it.' Chris wouldn't share it with anyone." Stephen Dorff also auditioned.

3. O'DONNELL WAS SURE HE'D LAND THE ROLE, BUT WAS NERVOUS DURING HIS AUDITION.

While Damon, Affleck, Fraser, Randall Batinkoff, and Anthony Rapp all felt their auditions hadn't gone well, O'Donnell was confident about his. "Chris kept things close to the chest," Damon said. "We asked him how his audition went, and he just said [in a singsong voice], ‘Ohhh, it was fine.’ We kept pushing, ‘Dude! Just tell us!’ And he would reply [singing again], ‘Ohhh, I don’t know.’”

As O'Donnell later confessed, it wasn’t easy. "I really wanted the part, and I put a lot of effort into it," he recalled. "Al Pacino was a no-brainer. But when I got in there, Al’s presence was so intimidating—and the character is supposed to feel that way around him. I channeled that natural nervousness I felt during the audition, and it ended up helping me land the role."

4. CHRIS ROCK ALSO AUDITIONED FOR CHARLIE.

"There was some talk about me taking the role that Chris O'Donnell played in Scent of a Woman, which honestly could have made the movie even better," the comedian told Rolling Stone in 2014. "Not because of me—it just would've worked better with a black kid in that role."

5. DIRECTOR MARTIN BREST WANTED TO KEEP PACINO AND O'DONNELL APART.

Brest initially wanted to separate the two actors to build tension, but Pacino and O'Donnell ended up forming a bond off-screen, which led to the abandonment of those plans.

"It was honestly the most nerve-wracking experience of my life, being that nervous around Al Pacino throughout most of the film," O'Donnell later reflected. "I knew while I was doing it that this would be the greatest acting experience of my life." Pacino also shared some life advice with the 21-year-old actor on set: "He always told me, 'Don’t ever marry an actress. You’ll always be second in their life.'" O'Donnell didn't take that advice.

6. LT. COL. FRANK SLADE WAS INSPIRED BY THREE DIFFERENT PEOPLE.

Screenwriter Bo Goldman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Rose) learned that his brother was financially struggling and living in a costly New York apartment with overdue rent. A week later, director Martin Brest showed him the film Profumo di Donna. "I watched the movie, and the character reminded me so much of my brother, who became the inspiration for the character in Scent of a Woman," Goldman said. "The character also blended in traits from my first sergeant in the Army, a member of the famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team, who was the second person I had ever feared, and the first person I feared—my father. The sergeant was a real soldier... So this character turned into a combination of all these people."

7. THE 'HOO-AH' CAME FROM PACINO'S MILITARY ADVISOR.

"I was working with a lieutenant colonel who was teaching me the ways of the Army," Pacino recalled. "We practiced every day, and he’d show me how to load and unload a .45, and all kinds of things. Every time I did something right, he'd shout 'Hoo-ah!' Finally, I asked him, 'Where did that come from?' And he said, 'When we were in the field, and you turned and snapped the rifle just right, you'd shout, 'Hoo-ah!' So I started doing it. It’s funny how things stick with you."

8. PACINO WAS FITTED WITH SPECIAL LENSES, BUT NEVER WORE THEM.

After months of fitting special lenses to make Pacino's blindness appear more realistic, both the actor and director Brest decided not to use them. They were concerned that prolonged use could damage Pacino's eyes.

9. PACINO INJURED HIS CORNEA AFTER FALLING INTO A BUSH.

"You don’t focus your eyes. What happens is, you just fall into a state," Pacino told Larry King when asked how he pretended to be blind. "In fact, I got an eye injury while filming because I fell into a bush. The worst type of eye injury is when plant matter gets into your cornea. It stuck in mine. Since my eyes weren’t focusing as I fell, the bush scraped my cornea. It’s also pretty dangerous to do that."

10. THE TANGO SCENE WAS A CHALLENGE FOR GABRIELLE ANWAR.

Gabrielle Anwar (later known as Fiona Glenanne from Burn Notice) recorded her audition tape and traveled to New York to meet Pacino. Initially told she wasn't right for the role of Donna, she was later asked to return to New York after the decision was reversed. Anwar spent a week with a tango instructor, though she didn’t need much practice, having previously danced at a nightclub for teens in her hometown of Laleham, England.

Anwar revealed in 2013 that Pacino skipped the tango rehearsals. "It was a bit tricky. I still have a few partially broken toes," she said. "It was an interesting experience... but hey, it's Al Pacino, for God's sake; I couldn't exactly complain. I was intimidated... He was incredibly kind to me."

11. THEY FILMED IN LOCATIONS FEATURED IN THE GODFATHER AND BOTH ARTHUR MOVIES.

The Baird School, depicted as an all-male institution, was filmed at the all-female Emma Willard School in Troy, New York. (Emma Willard was the first women's higher education institution in the United States.) The final Baird scene, however, was shot at Hempstead House, one of the four mansions at Sands Point Preserve in Long Island, New York. Another mansion on the estate famously appeared in that other Pacino film—the one featuring a severed horse's head.

They also filmed in the Oak Room at The Plaza Hotel, where the original Arthur enjoyed drinks with Gloria. The tango scene was filmed in the ballroom of The Pierre Hotel. The hotel's lavish penthouse later became Anthony Hopkins's character's residence in Meet Joe Black (1998) and was also featured in the 2011 Arthur remake starring Russell Brand.

12. O'DONNELL'S BEST PERFORMANCE WAS A CAMERA OPERATOR'S WORST NIGHTMARE.

In the scene where Chris O'Donnell cries, the focus puller missed and the shot was soft," editor Michael Tronick revealed. "Normally, Marty [Brest] would never consider using a shot that was out of focus. But it was the best take, and we knew it had to be included in the movie."

13. PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN SAW IT AS HIS BREAKTHROUGH ROLE.

Hoffman had to audition five times before landing the part of George. At the time, he was living in a Brooklyn apartment with just a futon, working at a deli to make ends meet. In 2008, Hoffman admitted to The New York Times that he sometimes watched Scent of a Woman on TV. "I’ll watch it, and I say, ‘Do less, Phil, less, less!" he recalled. "Now, I’m a little embarrassed by parts of my performance. But back then, it was huge! It was pure joy to get to do the work." Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson said that after seeing Hoffman in the film, "It was one of those ridiculous moments where you call someone and say, 'You’re my favorite actor.'" Anderson later wrote the character of Scotty J. in Boogie Nights (1997) specifically for him.

14. BREST FELT THE FILM'S LENGTH WAS JUST RIGHT.

Some critics noted that the film, running two hours and 37 minutes, felt too long. Brest's first cut was 160 minutes, and he, along with Goldman and Pacino, wanted it even longer. Universal, on the other hand, pushed for a shorter version. In the end, Brest, Goldman, and Pacino prevailed after test audiences gave higher marks to the longer 157-minute cut. However, Universal cut the movie down for TV and airplane versions, and Brest removed his name from those versions.

15. CHRIS O'DONNELL HAD A LOT ON HIS PLATE.

While starring in the film, O'Donnell was also pursuing a marketing degree at Boston College. The day after the premiere, he had to buckle down to finish a term paper and prepare for three final exams.