Everyone’s favorite line from Heat comes from one of Pacino’s patented “wild” takes

Nine out of 10 Heat viewers agree: The funniest part of Michael Mann’s artful crime masterpiece is when Al Pacino shouts, “She has a great ass, and you’ve got your head all the way up it!” The scene is something of a minor miracle. It should disrupt the severity and intensity of the film’s climax, but thanks to Pacino’s gonzo performance as Vincent Hanna, the abusive, obsessive, maniac cop from Heat, the actor’s line reading fits right in with the rest of the actor’s delectable scenery chewing. Director Michael Mann agrees, and in a new interview with Variety, he doesn’t contest how surprising and strange the delivery is. It’s all part of the Pacino process.

Mann, who laughs at the scene like any channel surfer lucky enough to catch the movie on TNT on Saturday afternoon, says that Pacino’s “best takes are always five, six or seven.” The first two, he explains, are all experimental. By the time he hits six, “maybe it’s a small change.” After that, though, it’s all fireworks, and Pacino would “deliver a take that was fantastic.” In this case, though, as viewers can attest, Pacino goes a little off-script. After Mann had a solid take locked, the actor asked if he could try “a wild one.” Mann always obliged, Variety reports, because they were “often hilarious” and occasionally brilliant and/or terrible. Unfortunately, no one told Pacino’s co-star Hank Azaria.