Al Pacino to star in film adaptation of 'King Lear'

'Scarface' actor's casting for the Shakespearean film adaptation has been rumoured for years

Hollywood's veteran actor Al Pacino's upcoming project will be an adaptation of a famous Shakespearean play. The actor will star as the protagonist, King Lear, in the film modification.

According to The Guardian, the Oscar-winning actor will be directed by Michael Radford, who worked with Pacino in 2004's The Merchant of Venice where the actor played Shylock, in King Lear, the story of a once-great monarch who descends into madness.

PHOTO: THE INDEPENDENT

"Lear is the one that everyone aims for. Pacino has been toying with the idea for a long time. There's a difference between Shylock, who's only in five scenes, and Lear, who is in every scene, pretty much," Radford said in a statement.

"It's enormous. I think Pacino would like to have that kind of kudos because he's a terrific actor," added the director. The Scarface actor's casting for the film has been rumoured about for years.

PHOTO: THE INDEPENDENT

Pacino has said that Shakespeare on film “should be tried more often… to take the humanity that Shakespeare writes into characters and express it”.

Producer Barry Navidi, who also worked on The Merchant of Venice, said, "Before, we had the passion and the desire, but we never had a start date. We all have the energy to do King Lear now. We're creating, hopefully, an epic."

PHOTO: THE INDEPENDENT

“The thing about King Lear is that it’s not set in any particular era,” said Radford. “It’s a fantasised era where there’s some place called Dover. I’ve been talking to a big special-effects company, thinking ‘what can we do to create something that doesn’t really exist?”

“A lot of people think of Lear classically as being in some sort of medieval world where people wear rough-hewn clothes. I want the world to be recognisable – not recognisable physically, but psychologically," he added.

Pacino made his name as a Hollywood star in films such as The Godfather and Scarface.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.