For Director, Landing Pacino was Something to Sing About

"Danny Collins" has cast Al Pacino as a veteran pop star who still fills arenas, has a gaggle of granny-aged groupies and a signature song with a call-and-response element that smacks of "Sweet Caroline." But just to clarify, Danny Collins is not Neil Diamond.
"Collins" actually was inspired by something that happened to another musician. Some 45 years ago, English folk singer-songwriter Steve Tilston did a magazine interview acknowledging a fear that wealth and fame may negatively affect his songwriting.
So whereas Tilston stayed true to his acoustic-folk roots and, as per Fogelman, has enjoyed happy and productive personal and professional lives. Pacino's character of Collins clearly sold his soul for stardom, but just may reclaim it in the most unexpected places.
Director Fogelman said in an interview "When Al signed on to this movie, I was a 34-year-old guy who had never directed a movie before, who was best known for writing cartoon movies about talking cars... Honestly, him reading the script alone is a career highlight. And then him doing the movie is a career highlight. So, I'm kind of good."