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Al Pacino says "Easy’s Waltz" costar Vince Vaughn could be 'a Vegas headliner': See EW's exclusive first look

"It's refreshing and inspiring, actually, to be around that," Pacino says of Vaughn's performance in the drama from "True Detective" creator Nic Pizzolatto.

By Mike Miller | Entertainment Weekly | September 6, 2025 

Vince Vaughn and Al Pacino in 'Easy's Waltz'.

On the screen and behind the scenes, Al Pacino made dreams come true on his latest film, Easy's Waltz. 

In the drama from True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto, who makes his feature directorial debut with the project, Vince Vaughn stars as Easy, a washed-up Vegas crooner who gets a last shot at stardom when a veteran casino booker played by Pacino sees something special in him. 

It's a passion project Vaughn has been developing for years with Pizzolatto, whom he worked with on True Detective season 2. Though it's been a bumpy road, he's excited to see it finally making its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next weekend. Starring alongside Pacino in the film, which is itself an ode to show business and performers, reminded Vaughn of why he got into acting in the first place.

"Al is one of the people as a child who inspired me to want to perform, so, of course, I was beyond thrilled to have a chance to work with him," Vaughn tells Entertainment Weekly in an interview alongside his legendary costar. "Any genre he's been in, in so many different types of things, he's captivating. He has one of those rare qualities where, as an audience, you really connect to him. Separately than just, 'Wow, that's a great performance,' people have an affection and a deeper bond through him."

Vince Vaughn in 'Easy's Waltz'.

Speaking of Pacino's performance in the film as the mercurial Svengali Mickey Albano, Vaughn says, "He has such a strength without trying hard. He's playful. It's even more captivating and dangerous with the character he plays. Like, there's real love in him, and then there's real gravitas, but it's kind of thrown away in the light. And it's that unpredictability, you're not quite sure where this is going. But none of it feels forced, or like someone's trying to convince you."

He adds, "I was just blown away with how alive and light and honest [he is]. It felt like having a real conversation with somebody."

Like his character in the film, Pacino found himself blown away by Vaughn's talent. 

"I really had a pleasure working with Vincent," the Hollywood icon shares. "It was a pleasure to watch him. And I kept telling people, This man is transcendent. His performance is beautiful. Not that I ever doubted that he could do anything, but it's very, very refreshing to be around something like his interpretation. It's refreshing and inspiring, actually, to be around that."

While Vaugn's acting chops are well established, Easy's Waltz allowed the star to show off a side of himself that audiences rarely see. As Easy, the actor performs over a dozen tunes over the course of the film, all of which he sings himself. From standards like "Little Drummer Boy" to pop hits such as "Edge of Seventeen," Vaughn worked with music producer Keefus Ciancia to put his own spin on a number of classics. 

Al Pacino in 'Easy's Waltz'.

"His acting, but also his singing and interpretation of the songs, I was just like, he can do this stuff," Pacino raves. "I thought this guy could be [a Vegas headliner] or something. He had such a natural take on it. When you hear him sing, he actually moves you."

Adds the Oscar winner, "That's the truth. I saw it right from the get-go. I wasn't influenced by the character I was playing. I just saw it as Al."

Easy's Waltz isn't the first time Vaughn has sung for audiences. Baseball fans might remember him leading "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field during the 2016 World Series, and in his 2013 film The Internship, he belts out some Alanis Morissette. But never has Vaughn been asked to carry a film with his singing voice like he does here. 

"It was overwhelming," he admits. "We would film and know a song was coming up, so I would go with Keefus, who was really the musical orchestrator. He was very warm and great with me and gracious, and gave me lots of space to try stuff. And so we would go to the recording studios on my day off or for a weekend, and I would go in and we would just explore and try different things and come up with the arrangements of the songs based on what we were feeling. So that was a really fun process to collaborate with somebody and be given the freedom to try different things and find what the song was saying for us in that moment."

While we see Easy performing most of his songs live, Vaughn says he and his band did not have to worry about hitting all the right notes during filming. "Myself and the band weren't playing a live version," he explains. "Everyone recorded their stuff in the studio, and then we would put it together and do playback on the day."

Simon Rex and Shania Twain in 'Easy's Waltz'.

Not that hitting all the right notes was important to Vaughn anyway. "I really approached it like an actor, and saw his thing as trying to connect to the stories and connect to the audience in an authentic way. It's not really about hitting the note perfectly," he says.

"Music, I always thought, was, in a way, the most powerful art form because it would just transport you instantly. Music could take you so far, so fast," Vaughn adds. 

Pacino says he feels similarly about acting. "If you make that connection, like Vince was saying, you can get into another world, and stepping into another world is very invigorating," he says. "It brings you to certain places in your own imagination. It's very hard to explain. When you've been doing it as long as I have, you don't examine it much. Why do I do this? I mean, I can't pick up a harmonica and just play on it, you know? But I can pick up a script, and somehow I can do that. It's part of your anatomy."

At 85, Pacino says he's starting to take "smaller roles," but when asked what continues to motivate him, he jokes, "Uh, well, just staying alive. I'm looking around, saying, 'How long does this go on?' I guess that's a motivation."

Still, he adds more seriously, "I'm so grateful that I still can do this…Acting is exciting for me because we just don't know what's gonna happen. And it's an adventure, really."

Audiences will get to see Pacino and Vaughn's first onscreen adventure together when Easy's Waltz — also starring Simon Rex, Kate Mara, and real-life music legend Shania Twain — premieres Sept. 11 at TIFF.

https://ew.com/al-pacino-easys-waltz-costar-vince-vaughn-could-be-vegas-headliner-exclusive-first-look-11804866

aj1995 wrote:

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Attended the premiere in Toronto. Shania plays a character named Lee, a Las Vegas club owner. She appears in 3 scenes total and acts opposite Simon Rex, Al Pacino, Kate Mara, and Vince Vaughan in that order. Overall, the movie felt like a nostalgic throwback to old Vegas. A funny, bittersweet modern mob story with the spirit of 70s cinema that I personally enjoyed a lot. In the Q&A, the director Nic Pizzolatto was asked how they managed to cast Shania in the film and he sarcastically said "it's a long story," and then proceeded to tell how a mutual friend suggested Shania for the role and he said "sure!" and that's where the story ended.

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I'm glad you got to see the movie. Thanks for the update. 

At the end of the review it says "Easy's Waltz" is looking for distribution. Meaning filmmakers have completed the project and are now searching for a company to handle its release to the public. So it looks like it will be a while before the movie is publicly released.

‘Easy’s Waltz’ Review: Lounge Singer Vince Vaughn Catches A Break From Al Pacino In Fine Old-School Vegas Movie – Toronto Film Festival

By Pete Hammond | Deadline | September 11, 2025

Looking like it was a script plucked straight out of the 1970s, maybe even the ’50s, the richly entertaining midrange drama Easy’s Waltz goes down easy. It’s an engrossing character study of the kind of Vegas lounge singer that ought to be in that museum on the Strip that is full of salvaged signs of the Las Vegas that has been torn down and replaced by much glitzier new-age models. That probably is an apt description of Easy (Vince Vaughn) himself, a guy just trying to make ends meet by running a restaurant on the outskirts and performing nightly. He’s a Vic Damone-ish singer, really talented with the phrasing of a lyric and dedicated to delivering for the few faithfuls who actually come to see him perform.

It is his night job, as he also has to look out for the staff and make sure ends meet. Into his life comes mover and shaker Mickey Albano (Al Pacino), who sees something in Easy that he can exploit and convinces him that he belongs at the Wynn Hotel on the Strip instead and he can make it happen. He becomes a mentor, and soon Easy is getting the bigger break he never thought would happen. Easy is the kind of Vegas fixture who could see the big time happening just “over there” in the glitzy distance of the world’s most famous gambling town. But the Sinatra era is dead; this now is a place where stars do “residencies.” There are still lounges, though, and Easy fits right in.

The complication for him is devotion to his troubled younger brother Sam (Simon Rex), who acts as his “manager” but is generally a screw-up. It doesn’t change, and Sam’s stupid moves affect his relationship with Mickey, landing him in increasing trouble. Mickey is an old-style smooth operator — but don’t cross him, or he will show up with his goon squad for some beating-up time. Easy also has to deal with his mother (Mary Steenburgen), a tough cookie he is paying to keep above water. His visit to her is the kind of single scene where an Oscar winner like Steenburgen knocks it out of the park. We instantly know this woman, and it isn’t pretty.

That title — Easy’s Waltz — is one that instantly suggests this is going to be the kind of character-based movie Hollywood studios used to thrive on but now barely touch. This indie film ,which had its world premiere Thursday as a Special Presentation at the Toronto Film Festival, marks the feature writing-directing debut of Nic Pizzolatto, who proved in the first season of HBO’s True Detective he has the chops for this sort of thing. He proves it again here with a richly entertaining Vegas-y movie that feels decades older that the era of The Hangover and Leaving Las Vegas.

It is an actor’s dream. Vaughn has one of his best roles here, a guy who can interpret everything from “The Little Drummer Boy” to rock classics like “Edge of Seventeen” to Darin and Anka in their prime and get to their essence. But for his own good, perhaps he shouldn’t drift from his longtime comfort zone by playing a game he doesn’t know so well. And it is nice to see Pacino get a decent part here; I have seen him in basically throwaway or smallish roles in other films this fall season including Julian Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante and Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire. His Mickey Albano may be Michael Corleone-lite but nonetheless lethal when he has to turn on a dime. At 85, he still has it. However, in a sadly poignant role as the down-on-his-luck Sam, Rex really shows he has the dramatic chops to nearly steal the picture from a couple of ol’ pros like Vaughn and Pacino. He is terrific.

Most of the female parts, other than Steenburgen’s memorable if brief turn — including Kate Mara, Cobie Smulders and Vegas veteran singer Shania Twain — don’t have as much to do to make an impression, a distinctive problem the 1960 Ocean’s 11 also felt. This waltz is for the boys.

Producers are Christopher Lemole, Tim Zajaros, Margot Hand and Pizzolatto. Easy’s Waltz is looking for distribution. 

Title: Easy’s Waltz
Festival: Toronto (Special Presentations)
Sales agent: CAA, WME, Range
Director-screenwriter: Nic Pizzolatto
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Simon Rex, Kate Mara, Cobie Smulders, Shania Twain, Tim Simons, Fred Melamed, Sophia Ali, Mary Steenburgen, Al Pacino
Running time: 1 hr 43 mins

https://deadline.com/2025/09/easys-waltz-review-vegas-singer-vince-vaughn-al-pacino-tiff-1236529474/