Four decades after Al Pacino's intense commitment to realism gave us the instant cop classic "Serpico," the cinematic superstar is once again preparing to step into the skin of a real-life character.
"I really like that Salvador Dali idea," the gravelly-voiced Pacino said recently when asked about "Dali and I," the biopic currently being prepared by the seven-time Oscar nominee. "I really feel that's a place I would like to get myself around to playing."
The movie will reunite Pacino with his "S1m0ne" co-collaborator, hopefully yielding results more along the lines of "Lord of War" and "Gattaca" than their 2002 virtual-actor dud. "I read Andrew Niccols' script," said the "Godfather" veteran. "It's a terrific script, and I'm hoping one day to do that. That's a role I've been wanting to play for a while, and I think it's coming."
For those of you who think Dali is the old Tibetan guy who keeps getting reincarnated, Pacino is in fact referring to the eccentric Surrealist painter of the early 20th century. Best known for "The Persistence of Memory," the trippy painter is still remembered as much for his clocks melting on the beach as for his bulging eyes and wiry antennae-like mustache. The undaunted Pacino, however, sees Dali's infamous personality as a challenge. "I'll need to galvanize [myself] to play a part like that," he said.
"You want to be in the right frame of mind," insisted Pacino, who in addition to tough-guy cop Frank Serpico, has vanished into fact-based characters like low-level mobster "Lefty" Ruggiero in "Donnie Brasco" and Lowell Bergman in "The Insider." "[For 'Dali and I'], I want to be in the right frame, because that's a commitment; there are, along the way, certain rules that are committable. You say 'For this one, I'm going to go into it a certain way'. [As an actor] it has taken me a while to realize that, or to admit it, but that's how I feel about certain roles."
After nearly fifty films -- most recently "Ocean's Thirteen" -- Pacino said he has reached the point where passion projects like "Dali" mean the most to him. "You do 'em, you try to get in there [for every movie]," Pacino added. "But [then there are] the ones you commit to — ['Dali'] would be one of them."
As if the notion of Pacino with a crazy mustache isn't enough, the 67-year-old actor revealed one more biopic he says he's currently considering. "There's a script of Napoleon, too," he grinned.
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