Al Pacino Lands Lead Role in New Adaptation Of “King Lear”

It’s been almost 15 years since Al Pacino and Michael Radford joined their forces on the set of The Merchant of Venice – and they’re currently getting ready to bring another Shakespeare play to life. The Godfather star will play the titular character in the upcoming adaptation of King Lear.

Radford revealed Pacino has been toying with the idea of playing this character for some time. The Oscar-winning actor finally feels he’s up for the challenge, and producer Barry Navidi seems to agree.

“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. Michael and Al are going to stick to the original poetry. We’re creating, hopefully, an epic,” said Navidi.

The big screen adaptation of Shakespearean tragedy isn’t the only exciting project Al Pacino is working on right now. He’ll team up with his Godfather co-star Robert De Niro on the set of The Irishman, and play the agent of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.