Looking For Richard
SUMMARY
Al Pacino's long anticipated directing debut (his first-ever movie, THE LOCAL STIGMATIC, remains a tantalizing chimera) is a bit of this and a bit of that. If it doesn't precisely add up to greatness, it's still a highly entertaining look behind the scenes as Pacino and
friends -- including Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and a frightfully miscast Winona Ryder -- prepare a production of Shakespeare's Richard III, from chaotic initial readings to full-costume performance. Pacino, who's so often described as "intense" that the adjective has become a de facto part of his name, is a real delight to watch: Simultaneously goofily loose and totally focused, he's the galvanizing force behind both the film and the production within the film. Pacino's muscular, man in the street take on Shakespeare in general and the murderous monarch in particular contrasts nicely with the observations of Derek Jacobi, Vanessa Redgrave and John Gielgud, who hold up the high-toned British end of things in interviews that are shrewdly interspersed with the action. That the film is a must for Pacino fans goes without saying; the surprise is how generally enjoyable it all is. Movieguide Database, TVGen
CAST /CREW
Directed by
Al Pacino
Writing credits
William Shakespeare (play)
Al Pacino (narration) ...
Frederic Kimball (narration)
Penelope Allen .... Queen Elizabeth/Herself Gordon MacDonald .... Dorset Madison Arnold .... Rivers Vincent Angell .... Grey Harris Yulin .... King Edward IV/Himself Alec Baldwin .... George, Duke of Clarence/Himself Al Pacino .... Richard III/Himself Timmy Prairie .... Prince Edward Kevin Conway .... Hastings/Himself Larry Bryggman .... Lord Stanley Kevin Spacey .... Buckingham/Himself Estelle Parsons .... Queen Margaret/Herself Winona Ryder .... Lady Anne/Herself Phil Parolisi .... Halbred/Messenger Bruce MacVittie .... Murderer #1 (more)
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ARTICLES
Pacino writes about Shakespeare for new book
(thanks Lisa Wollney for this info)
Al Pacino has written about Richard III for a forthcoming series of books on Shakespeare. [He] has written about the character for Faber and Faber's Actors On Shakespeare series. Actors On Shakespeare explores the contemporary relevance and enjoyment to be found in Shakespeare. The first six books in the series are by performers who have acted in Shakespeare's plays on stage and screen. Vanessa Redgrave has written about Antony And Cleopatra for the series. Simon Callow, Emma Fielding, Corin Redgrave and Harriet Walter have also contributed to Actors On Shakespeare. The first six titles in the series are published in June 2002.
The Press Room, Al Pacino: Looking for Richard, by Leslie Rigoulot, Park City, Utah January 28, 1996
Background: Al Pacino is the screen writer and director of "Looking for Richard" which had it's world premiere at Sundance. Portions of Richard III are interlaced with discussion about Richard, acting, theater and Shakespeare. It features: Al Pacino, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, Aidan Quinn, Kevin Spacey, Estelle Parsons, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Sir John Gielgud, James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave. Al Pacino is here to answer any questions the press may have concerning Richard.
HOW DID IT FEEL TO DO A MOVIE YOUR WAY, VERSUS HOW THE STUDIO WANTED IT?
I've always been in movies, I never did them on my own. Maybe because I didn't start out to make a film. It started out as an experiment, an idea I had. It reminds me of a short Italian film where the mayor comes to lay the first brick in a building and everyone applauds. So he lays another one. And they cheer. So his assistant says to do another. And pretty soon he is doing the whole building. And this is the same kind of thing, one thing led to another. It started as a thing I thought I would do and send out to schools. I thought it had some kind of educational merit. And because I think the seed of it started in schools. In the late seventies I went out and was touring some schools, colleges and I would recite poetry. I would take sections of things I enjoyed myself and there would be back and forth questions. Everyone of these I would mention Shakespeare and I was surprised at how few of the kids had even read Hamlet. And I remember that I would talk about the play and then read an excerpt. By doing that they would get tuned, they would find the equinox from their world to the Shakespeare world and make the jump. And I forgot about it. Years later I was asked to do Richard III as a movie, I had done it on stage, and I though I wouldn't do it as a movie. I couldn't see myself doing it. Olivier had done it and it was done. Then I got this idea and this would be a way of doing it. It gradually turned into this. I thought it would be on television or something. Then six months ago I thought it might get theatrical release.
WAS DIRECTING AN INEVITABLE STEP FOR YOU?
No, I don't think of myself as a director. You see by the film that it came out of my head, it was my idea and I was just doing it a step at a time. If I were to direct again it would have to be something that I have a strong feeling about because it is a whole way of looking at things. And I don't have that as much. But the good thing about it is the control. (Laughs)
WAS DIRECTING AN INEVITABLE STEP FOR YOU?
No, I don't think of myself as a director. You see by the film that it came out of my head, it was my idea and I was just doing it a step at a time. If I were to direct again it would have to be something that I have a strong feeling about because it is a whole way of looking at things. And I don't have that as much. But the good thing about it is the control. (Laughs)
HOW DID THE PROJECT EVOLVE?
I thought I would free associate. You'll notice I have different looks in the picture, It went on for years. And I had wonderful help from the editors to construct the story I had in my head. I would take a situation and I would set it up.
HOW DID YOU GET ALL THOSE WONDERFUL ACTORS ON BOARD?
Knowing the right people. (Laughs) Some actors just wanted to watch, it was such chaos. There are some American actors who would like to do Shakespeare and they could do it without the onus on it, so much commercial pressure. Some actors did it for nothing. I know because we didn't pay them much but they sent me the checks to put back into the movie. It took three and a half years to make it and I made three movies in between and two plays. And documentaries take that long, but I'm not sure what this is.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH SHAKESPEARE?
In school we read Romeo and Juliette, I saw Marlon Brando in Julius Caesar. And all the great English actors. I talk in the movie with James Earl Jones about what it is like to be able to express yourself through Shakespeare. I enjoyed that.
QUOTES
AL PACINO
"The film is not about me doing Shakespeare's Richard III. It's about me as an American actor looking for Richard and meditating on what I find. It's a very personal experience for me captured on film, but I hope not too personal for an audience to connect with," says Pacino.
"There were times over the 10 years that I wondered if I'd ever get the film to a point where it could get released. I think it's there now." (Calgary Sun, Sept 9 1996, "Patient Pacino", By Louis B. Hobson )"It's not Richard III," he says of the film. "It's me looking for Richard. It's a meditation on Richard. At the same time, it's an experimental experience in a kind of personal way. I want it to invoke some kind of connection and relevance to Shakespeare. Yet, on a simple level, I hope the audience will just be entertained by it and come away from it having a sense of it." (Toronto International Film Festival, September 9, 1996, "Looking for a New Pacino", By Bruce Kirkland)
"There is an innate humor and irony in it. You find it in all of Shakespeare's plays, even the tragedies. What makes the tragedy more palatable is if you kind of balance it with humor." (Toronto International Film Festival, September 9, 1996, "Looking for a New Pacino", By Bruce Kirkland)
"The whole spirit of this movie is a kind of experiment. It took on a kind of life and here I am having a press conference. It never dawned on me that it would come to this.
It was certainly going to go to the archives. But, if it went further, it was going to go to schools. And then we thought possibly it might be a television mini-thing. Then it became a movie, which was something that only happened a year ago." (Toronto International Film Festival, September 9, 1996, "Looking for a New Pacino", By Bruce Kirkland)
(372k) Al's intro
DVD INFO
Currently unavailable on dvd but you can buy the video at Amazon.com.
LINKS