Legendary actorAl Pacinohas been an unstoppable, enigmatic force in Hollywood since his early days as Michael Corleone inThe Godfather, and even now at 82 years old the actor has no plans to throw in the towel just yet. In fact, he’s doing quite the opposite with several more projects in the pipeline. Per anexclusive interviewwith The Hollywood Reporter, Pacino revealed that, along with his upcoming memoir, he plans on at least four new films, one of those being a cinematic adaptation of Shakespeare’sKing Lear.
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Pacino has since been a key part of over fifty films throughout his career, first setting the industry on fire with his breakout performance as Italian mafia figurehead Michael Corleone inThe Godfather(1972). The role would cement the character as one of the iconic villains in film history, per a prestigious designation by the American Film Institute, and simultaneously make Pacino a force to be reckoned with. He would go on to star as Corleone in two sequels, along with other landmark films such asDog Day Afternoon(1975),Scarface(1983),Scent of a Woman(1992),Heat(1995),The Devil’s Advocate(1997),Any Given Sunday(1999), and many more. Most recently he appeared in Quentin Tarantino’sOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood(2019), Martin Scorsese’s lengthy drama epicThe Irishman(2019), and starred with music icon Lady Gaga in the comedy-drama biopicHouse of Gucci(2021).
During the interview, Pacino commented on why he’s continued to pursue more ambitious projects likeKing Lear, despite previous remarks about wanting to retire from acting some time ago.
“I’m always retired. I was retired when I was twenty-five. I mean, who cares? Please don’t call it retired, I just don’t want to work anymore…I don’t know, sometimes I just don’t want to do it as much. I like the lead-up to it, you know what I mean? It’s sort of like foreplay or something. I wake up in the morning, I sit at the edge of the bed …and I think, ‘Is it really possible that I’m gonna get through this day?’ And then I think, ‘But I did say that yesterday, and I said it the day before and the day before that, and I got through it. I said that this morning, ladies and gentlemen, and you’re seeing him today!”
Pacino’s Plans Going Ahead
Aside from this new announcement about King Lear, Pacino has kept himself plenty busy as well with the ongoing Prime Video series Hunters, which he’s worked on since 2020. Described as a conspiracy crime drama, the premise revolves around a group of designated “Nazi hunters” who, in effect, hunt down escaped Nazis in New York City during the 1970s who are planning to reconstitute a Fourth Reich. Pacino plays a character named Meyer Offerman, a Polish-Jewish philanthrophist who survived the Holcaust and now recruits and leads the hunters. The lead role is Pacino’s first ever on a television series.
The actor also talked about writing his upcoming memoir, which he’s co-authoring and has yet to come up with a title. It apparently will dive into some of the most fascinating aspects of his polished acting career, and he thinks it’s time for him to chronicle all of those moments. He hopes that it will be something his children can look to in respect to their father’s star-studded life.
“You get to that age, you start to do things like that. I stayed away from it, but I think I’ve got to sort of talk about certain things."
