Al Pacino Confesses He Was So High at 1975 Oscars That Jeff Bridges Had to Explain What Was Going On

Al Pacino gave a wide-ranging interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week, discussing some shocking behind-the-scenes stories. Among his anecdotes, the actor admitted that he was extremely high at the 1975 Oscars. So much so in fact that Jeff Bridges apparently had to keep explaining to Pacino what was going on.

Pacino was mild and self-effacing as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday night. The 79-year-old actor said that he is “good in a restaurant” but was not sure that his stories would play as well in front of a studio audience. His modesty may have been misplaced, as the show soon got away from them.

Pacino is out promoting The Irishman, the Martin Scorcese movie for Netflix that received 10 Oscar nominations. Pacino is no stranger to the Academy Awards, and he began talking about all of his nominations over the years. He landed on the 1975 award show, where he was nominated for best actor for his role in The Godfather: Part II.

“I was sitting there, and it wasn’t at all like you’d expect,” he said. “I went and I was sat there in this big event and I was with a friend. I had a few things, you know? I was not completely myself.”

Kimmel and the audience laughed here, understanding Pacino’s meaning.

“So everything was tolerable, you know? The nerves had calmed down. I was sitting there enjoying the show. I turned to Jeff Bridges — he was also nominated — and I said hi,” Pacino recalled. “I didn’t know him, but I knew he was Jeff Bridges, but I hi never met him. He said: ‘Yes? Hi? Okay.’ I thought, ‘He hasn’t seen my films.’ But I said to him: ‘I don’t think they’re going to get to the best actor category. He looked at me and he said ‘what do you mean?’ I said ‘well, It’s an hour [in], it’s over, and they didn’t get to that category.’”

“He gave me a look to this day — I’ll never forget it — like, ‘Where do you come from, who are you?’ and he said, ‘It’s three hours,’” Pacino said in his best Bridges impersonation. “That collapsed me. I thought, ‘What am I gonna do for the next two hours?’”

The crowd was delighted, as was Kimmel, who delivered the real moral of the story.

“If you’re so high that Jeff Bridges has to tell you what’s going on…” he said.

Pacino is nominated for the Oscar for best supporting actor in The Irishman. Hi co-star, Joe Pesci is also nominated in the categoy for the same movie. They are up against Brad Pitt for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tom Hanks for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Anthony Hopkins for The Two Popes.

The 2020 Oscars are live on Sunday, Feb. 9 on ABC.