The William Shakespeare character Al Pacino had “always wanted” to play
If there were ever a single actor who had to stand up and represent the brilliance of American cinema, then one could do much worse than Al Pacino. After all, Pacino is known and loved as a genuine icon of performative and dramatic arts, having given some of the most memorable acting performances of all time.
Throughout his career, we’ve seen Pacino portray a wide variety of character roles with his method acting approach, whether a reluctant mafia boss in The Godfather, a Cuban refugee drug lord in Scarface, a worn-out yet determined cop in Heator even the devil in lawyer’s clothing in The Devil’s Advocate.
While Pacino is certainly known as a master of the big screen, he has also had a handful of impressive performances on the stage, particularly in the early part of his career. In 1969, the New York-born actor made his Broadway debut in the play Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie, winning a Tony Award in the process.
Another Tony was just around the corner for his effort in The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, and before long, Pacino would fulfil a dream of performing in a Shakespeare play in the titular role of Richard III. Pacino had once spoken of his dramatic Shakespearean effort with theatre critic Elliot Norton, explaining how he’d always been keen on trying it out.
Pacino noted, “I’ve always wanted to do Shakespeare, and it was optional when I did Richard or Hamlet or Iago or Othello and talking to David [Wheeler, director], we discussed, and I thought, ‘Well, let’s go ahead and do Richard.” Pacino had already performed the “first half-hour” of Richard III when he was still at the Actor’s Studio.
That time, he’d done the entire thing on his own, which he called “the best way”, but the 1979 version was the full deal, with Pacino delivering one of Shakespeare’s most notorious characters with all his undoubted talent. Richard III is a history of Shakespeare, although it is sometimes referred to as a tragedy.
The play focuses on the envious and disabled Richard of Gloucester and the kind of deceit and manipulation that he uses in order to become the King of England. Richard murders anyone who states in his way, although he meets his maker on the battlefield, facing up against Henry of Richard (who later becomes Henry VII), with Richard delivering the famous line, “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.”
Pacino clearly had a deep love for Shakespeare’s play, which was said to have been written between 1592 and 1594 and was also the second-longest play of the legendary English playwright. In 1996, Pacino made his directorial debut in the shape of the documentary film Looking for Richard, which is comprised of a selection of scenes from the play in which the actor plays the main character and non-fictional moments exploring the cultural influence of Shakespeare himself.
Looking for Richard, which features comments from famous Shakespearean actors Vanessa Redgrave, Kenneth Branagh, John Gielgud and Kevin Kline, saw Pacino win the DGA Award for ‘Outstanding Directing’ in the Documentaries category. While the actor certainly enjoyed such acclaim, it couldn’t have got much better for him than being able to actually play the character that he had wanted to for so long. Pacino might not be the first actor with whom we relate William Shakespeare, but the truth is that he had a deep and unbridled passion for The Bard.
