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It’s a nearly impossible task to be asked to fill the shoes of Al Pacino, but Jon Bernthal was born to play the lead role of Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon.
The Punisher and The Walking Dead star is currently starring in the Broadway adaptation of Dog Day Afternoon — the classic 1975 Sidney Lumet film in which Al Pacino played the real-life bank robber whose Brooklyn heist became a media circus — and his performance is the reason to see it.
While there are obvious similarities to Pacino’s performance given they both play the same character — albeit over 50 years apart — Bernthal finds a way to bring his own nuance, layers, and humanity to the part.
Jon Bernthal’s performance in Dog Day Afternoon is reason enough to see the play on Broadway
Bernthal brings the same coiled, physical intensity he’s made a career out of, but channels it into something more vulnerable and combustible than his usual work. Sonny is not a tough guy and Bernthal knows it — he’s a desperate man doing something stupid for someone he loves.
“It’s an absolute celebration of love that knows no boundaries. And it will always be that, but I think it’s also an examination of masculinity. It is an unbelievable mirror of what happened in Minneapolis and with armed confrontations with both federal and local troops: How mob mentality can effect real-life violence on the streets and stoke their fears and bring people together as much as it can completely divide people,” the acclaimed actor previously said of playing the iconic role.
The production itself is visually striking — the stage design creates an immersive, claustrophobic environment that captures the pressure-cooker atmosphere of a bank robbery gone sideways and going nowhere fast — and the supporting cast handles the escalating chaos of the hostage situation with conviction.
What Bernthal does specifically is locate the humanity underneath Sonny’s increasingly erratic decision-making. The famous “Attica! Attica!” energy is there, but so is the exhaustion beneath it — a man who knows he’s already lost but hasn’t figured out how to stop yet. As always with Bernthal, it’s a genuinely committed piece of acting that grabs you by the throat and never lets go.
Dog Day Afternoon is currently running on Broadway. If Bernthal’s recent work and upcoming work in Daredevil: Born Again and The Punisher: One Last Kill has you locked in on his current moment, the stage show is worth your time.
In addition to Bernthal as Sonny, Ebon Moss-Bachrach stars as Sal DeSilva, while John Ortiz played Detective Ferrara and Jessica Hecht features as the feisty bank teller Colleen.
Dog Day Afternoon premiered on March 30, 2026, at the August Wilson Theatre and is set to run through July 12.