Al Pacino donated his entire salary from an "exploitative" gay film to charity

He claims the producers of the William Friedkin film begged him to defend the movie, writing: "After all, they had paid me a lot of money, and I wasn't going to just abandon them.

"But I wanted to go somewhere far away from the madness. I'd had enough."

Despite giving his paycheque to a good cause, Pacino admitted he's still not sure if it "eased his conscience".

He added: "I never accepted the paycheque for 'Cruising'. I took the money, and it was a lot, and I put it in an irrevocable trust fund, meaning once I gave it, there was no taking it back.

"I don't know if it eased my conscience, but at least the money did some good.

"I didn't want to make it a PR stunt, I just wanted one positive thing to come out of that experience."

The 'Godfather' star played detective Steve Burns, who finds himself immersed in New York's gay S+M subculture in a bid to hunt down a serial killer.

During filming, the flick was hit with backlash, with gay rights advocates protesting due to its "exploitative" nature.

However, he admits he "didn't see it as that when I was doing it", and was not "as sensitive" as he could have been back then.

Even though it initially received bad reviews, 'Cruising' went on to become a classic.

In his tell-all, Pacino penned: "To this day, it's still the biggest film I ever did.

"The residuals still support me. I can live on it. I mean, if I lived like a normal person. But, it does contribute, let's put it that way."