Al Pacino’s Madness

Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:

Al Pacino's mad king, Fanning and Fassbender, two Shyamalans, Gerard Butler has fallen and a double life.

Let’s go!

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AL PACINO’S MADNESS

The Merchant of Venice. MGM Studios.

Al Pacino is King Lear.

Pacino is about to play the greatest character ever written for an octogenarian in Lear, Rex, a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear.

In this tragic masterpiece, Lear, an aging monarch, divides his kingdom among his eldest daughters after they offer him flowery overtures about their unwavering love. Lear’s youngest is denied this territorial birthright when she shares the honest truth that she loves her father in accordance with her duty as a daughter.

After the elder daughters take over the kingdom, they banish King Lear, and he descends into madness.

Here’s a snippet of Lear’s ravings as he fumbles through a storm:

“You sulph’rous and thought-executing fires // Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, // Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder.”

Lear continues:

“Here I stand your slave, // A poor, infirm, weak, and despis’d old man.”

Imagining Pacino recount these lines is pure symphony.

Pacino has been playing on the razor’s edge of benevolence and madness for the majority of his career. From his righteously deranged cop in Serpico (1973) to his unhinged bank robber with a heart of gold in Dog Day Afternoon (1975). To career favorites as the operatic Tony Montana in Scarface (1983) and the calculating, devoted son in The Godfather (1972).

Pacino has previously co-starred in a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (2004) as Shylock.

The director, Michael Radford, stated:

“Lear is the one that everyone aims for. Al 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. It’s enormous. I think [Pacino] would like to have that kind of kudos because he’s a terrific actor.”