I’m not going to pull any punches here. It’s been sad watching the career of Al Pacino the last few years. It’s been like watching a once great boxing champion… maybe one of the greatest of all times… hang on too long and getting his face beat to a pulp in just about every fight he takes now.
Righteous Kill
S1mone
The Recruit
88 Minutes
Two For The Money
These aren’t just bad movies… he was bad in them. The one bright shining ray of hope from him in the last 10 years was his BRILLIANT performance in the 2004 version of The Merchant of Venice where he played Shylock the Jew. No seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him better.
Word is now coming out that Pacino is taking on the historic character of Napoleon in the upcoming film “Betsy and the Emperor. The good folks over at MovieWeb give us this:
In a story from The Hollywood Reporter, Al Pacino will be playing Napoleon in the adaptation of Staton Rabin’s children’s book “Betsy and the Emperor.” GC Corp. picked up rights to the project that had been originally owned by the Bob Yari Co. John Curran (The Painted Veil) will direct the movie from a screenplay by Brian Edgar. Production on the film will begin in late autumn.
Considering how well he did the last time he was handed a legendary character (Skylock), I’m anxious to see how Pacino steps up to this one. The old champ may get beat a lot… but I still root for him when he gets in the ring.
