Lamar Jackson has a fan in . . . Al Pacino

Al Pacino is known for many things. His great acting skills, his diverse array of legendary performances, and a distinct delivery you could recognize if you were blindfolded with a TV on in another room.

Apparently though, the silver screen legend fresh off of another massive hit performance in “The Irishman,” is also a Lamar Jackson fan. This makes some sense if you consider one of his more well known roles in this context: head coach of the Miami Sharks (Lol) Tony D’Amato in “Any Given Sunday.”

In an oral history of the cult classic football film by The Ringer, Pacino was a part panel of a group of people involved with the making of the film. In the piece, he’s quoted near the end of it as being inspired by Jackson’s performance this season, and how it actually reminds him of the plot of the movie to a certain extent:

“I watch this guy Lamar Jackson. There are occasionally these players that are inspiring because you can see the game that they play is a game, and you can actually sense the joy they have in what they do. That’s inspiring. Watching Lamar Jackson is an inspiration to actors. Finding that pocket, finding, where is that joy that gets under you and brings you out? The freedom to let go of the conscious, and get it to the unconscious and fly like he does?”

He goes on to relate Lamar’s experience to Willie Beamen, a central character from the movie’s story portrayed by Jamie Foxx.

“With Willie Beamen, he was put in the background. Lamar was waiting behind Flacco, and I don’t see how he got overlooked. What Lamar’s doing was always there. You can clearly see it. Then you watch how he throws with such accuracy. He seems so comfortable throwing a football, like he’s been doing it all his life.”

For context, many different forms of this meme have been circulating social media recently, so it’s kind of funny to see all of this come full circle:

It’s not surprising that many celebrities across different fields have taken notice of Jackson’s breakout season, but some of them are more surreal than others. Mark this one down in “almost totally unbelievable” category.