Scarface Quiz

Question: What film did Brian De Palma turn down in order to direct Scarface?

Answer: The drama about a welder/exotic dancer was ultimately helmed by Adrian Lyne.

Question: Which actress was the first choice to play Tony’s wife, Elvira?

Answer: The role ultimately went to Michelle Pfeiffer, who had just made Grease 2.

Question: Where was the film primarily set?

Answer: The movie took place shortly after the Mariel boatlift (1980), which saw thousands of Cuban immigrants, a number of whom were convicts, arrive in Miami and other U.S. cities.

Question: Who wrote the film’s screenplay?

Answer: He wrote the profanity-laden script before becoming better known as a director.

Question: Who killed Tony’s best friend and right-hand man, Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer)?

Answer: He kills Manny after finding him with Gina. Unbeknownst to Tony, the two had just married.

Question: Scarface was nominated for how many Oscars?

Answer: The film received three Golden Globe nominations, and Brian De Palma earned a Razzie Award nomination for worst director.

Question: Tony often uses the slang word “yayo.” What does it mean?

Answer: It was an improvisation from Pacino, and De Palma liked it enough to keep it in the film.

Question: When Tony Montana (Al Pacino) says, “Say hello to my little friend,” what is he referring to?

Answer: The quote is the film’s most famous and among the most popular in cinema.

Question: When a drug deal goes bad, how is Tony’s man Chi Chi (Angel Salazar) killed?

Answer: This scene, in particular, ran afoul of movie censors, leading De Palma to edit the sequence.

Question: What visiting director shot a scene for Scarface?

Answer: Brian De Palma allowed Spielberg, whose most recent film was E.T., to direct a scene when he stopped by the set.