These days any time that I catch wind of a new
Al Pacino project I anticipate the actor playing the role of a detective. Ever since he made the eery transformation from softly spoken, subtle character actor to loud, hoo-hah eccentric performer it seems that the walls of the police department have become his second home. It appears that the legendary actor just can't resist the urge to spit his coffee up the wall, extravagantly bellow his comedic frustration and attempt to save the day as only an angry Al Pacino character can. It is with some relief then to see that the actor has a number of interesting, non-detective projects lined up which should hopefully remind many of what a great silent communicator Pacino used to be. One of these projects being reported by
The Guardian is a biopic about the artist
Henri Matisse which would explore the relationship with his muse Monique Bourgeois. Al Pacino looks set to play the lead role in the film that is currently running with the title '
Masterpiece.' Along with Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, Matisse is seen as one of the three key artists who helped to define groundbreaking developments in the plastic arts at the beginning of the twentieth century and whose paintings and sculpture were seen as innovative and deeply inspirational for later artists. Matisse formed a close relationship with Monique Bourgeois who later become known as Sister Jacques-Marie and who acted as Henri's muse, model and nurse. The pair collaborated together on the decoration of the Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence (Chapel of the Rosary) which is commonly referred to as the Matisse Chapel. She talked about their work together in her book Henri Matisse: La Chapelle de Vence, the content of which influenced the 2003 documentary A Model for Matisse. Matisse was in his seventies when he initially enlisted the help of twenty one year old Monique in 1941 and yet in spite of this overwhelming age gap many have speculated on the nature of a relationship which she always defended as platonic.
The film is to be directed by Indian-Canadian filmmaker
Deepa Metha who has won numerous awards in particular for her themed trilogy Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005) which focus on the political, marital and social struggles of Indian life. Casting is under-way for the female roles, including Monique, and if it all comes together it could film this year. Meanwhile Al Pacino can next be seen in the Channing Tatum led detective thriller
The Son of No-One which recently received a tirade of
negative reviews when it premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. He is also set to appear in a biopic about the boxer Roberto Duran which is currently in the stages of pre-production and take the title role in a cinematic update of King Lear, the much celebrated William Shakespeare play. Interestingly, he has also spent the last couple of years attempting, unsuccessfully, to get a Salvador Dali movie off the ground.