Trivia / Serpico

• Backed by the Pentagon: Surprisingly, according to Sidney Lumet, the NYPD was cooperative towards him in making the movie, because they saw he wasn't trying to "Hollywood" it up.
• Method Acting: According to Lumet, Al Pacino stayed in character throughout the shoot out of necessity, being lighthearted and fun to be with when Serpico was in the movie, and being angry when Serpico was.
• Referenced by...
  • In Episode 7 of the ADV dub of Ghost Stories, one of the characters tells a cop to "drop the Krispy Kremes, Serpico!"
  • In Se7en, Mills tells his wife "Serpico's gotta go."
  • Masked Dog by Raymond Obstfeld. A CIA agent relates how a colleague always wore a beard while undercover. "He must have seen Serpico a dozen times." This caused a problem when the house he was sleeping in was firebombed and his beard caught fire. He had to get a skin graft from his behind transplanted to his chin, causing his new beard hairs to be somewhat curly.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, the movie was supposed to be another vehicle for Paul Newman and Robert Redford, with Redford as Serpico and Newman as his lawyer friend (the character Tony Roberts plays in the movie).
  • John G. Avildsen (Rocky) was originally supposed to direct, but left before shooting began due to creative differences with the producer.