SIDEWAYS star Paul Giamatti upset Al Pacino backstage when the pair teamed up in hit play THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI by ignoring theatrical superstitions.

Pacino insists on paying strict attention to long-believed quirky superstitions and urges co-stars to do the same, which gave Giamatti the perfect chance to test the movie great.

He says, "He's got all the theatre superstitions - you're not supposed to say Macbeth because something will fall on your head... I'm always the guy that says it.

"You can't whistle backstage, so I whistle all the time. I drove him crazy. I would whistle and he'd come flying out of his dressing room in a rage... which his normal mode of being.

"He does all the spinning around and he would knock on the door and he'd have to go back in and he'd do all the superstitious stuff... This is why I don't do theatre anymore."

13/06/2005 09:02