| Actor
cuts his fee to take major Shakespeare role he has always
wanted, reports Dalya Alberge from Cannes
AL
PACINO has waived his multimillion pound fee to star
as Shylock in an ambitious British production of The
Merchant of Venice.
The Hollywood star
has wanted to play the role for years. When he heard
that Michael Radford, the British director whose films
include the Oscar-winning Il Postino and 1984, with
Richard Burton, was planning an adaptation, he agreed
to take a fraction of the $17 million (£8.6 million)
fee that he can command today.
"I
feel I've always been destined to play Shylock",
he said.
Those
who have seen early footage are tipping him for Oscar
recognition.
The production, which
is being promoted at the Cannes Film Festival, also
boasts an A-list cast of British stars, including Joseph
Fiennes and Jeremy Irons. Lynn Collins, an American
actress tipped to be a star, plays Portia.
It was filmed across
Venice, on the Rialto Bridge, in the synagogue and in
the Doge's Palace. The authorities closed off the Grand
Canal, venice's main waterway, for the production.
The film, which is
believed to have cost $27 million, is co-produced by
Movision Entertainment, a British company that has produced
seven films in the past year with a combined budget
of $100 million. Peter James, its joint managing director,
said that if the big studios had made this film it could
have cost up to $100 million. He said: "They are
locked into big overheads. The stars get full whack
and, at $100 million, the picture has got to be a blockbuster
to make serious money."
Pacino
is best known for film classics such as the Godfather
trilogy and Scarface, but Shakespeare
has been his lifelong passion. He portrays Shylock as
a character who is neither good nor bad, but is put
in a certain situation and behaves badly. |
In
telling the story of the animosity between Christian
noblemen and the Jewish merchant and moneylender, the
film will present a story of human conflict, one that
is not dissimilar to the conflict between Christians
and Muslims today, Mr Radford said - "Two groups
of people who don't understand each other."
Once Pacino's
name was attached to the production, the rest fell into
place. Mr Bradford said: "It needed a star to get
the movie rolling."
Casting was
difficult. "Pacino is one of those people who's
been rained in Shakespeare and knows how to do it. "I've
seen some brilliant actors who, when it comes to this
stuff, haven't got the technique. I don't have time
to train them."
The film is set in 1596, but with
a contemporary feel. Mr Bradford does not believe that
updated versions of Shakespeare work on screen. "Cinema
has brutal realism. You have to be careful with metaphors.
It bangs you over the head. It's usually there to illustrate
what's in the director's head." The royal premiere
is set for November.
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