Oscar and Pacino

I wasn't planning on doing a post this evening but I have just listened to an absolutely fascinating radio programme on the Radio 4 website about Al Pacino and his love for Oscar Wilde's play Salome. Now being both a huge fan of Pacino and Mr Wilde this was a treat. The programme focuses on a recent drama documentary that Pacino has written, directed and starred in which mixes performance of the play Salome filmed over a week in New York with a footage of Al Pacino on a journey to discover the history behind the play and the truth about Oscar Wilde.

The film premiered at the Venice film festival back in September to, it would seem mixed reviews. Variety were not enamoured with it (http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117945964/) , the Hollywood Reporter were much more gushing in their praise (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/wilde-salome-venice-film-review-231024). Interestingly enough Salome herself is played by Jessica Chastain, who I was incredibly impressed with by her performance in The Help, so I am eager to see how she performs in a theatrical enviroment.

Despite his incredible success in movies, Al Pacino has always stayed true to his theatre origins and Wilde Salome appears to be very much in the same vein as 'Looking for Richard (1996) which if you have yet to see I throughly recommend. In that film, Al Pacino attempted to explore Richard III in a similar way to Salome, with performances of the play starring amongst others Winona Ryder and Kevin Spacey, in-depth discussions of the play and exploration of the historical background. If you have not seen this already I heartily recommend that you do even if you are not a die hard Shakespeare fan.

Despite searching high and low on the internet I cannot seem to find a nationwide release date for this film in the US or the UK, but it does not appear to be on dvd as of yet. There is a website (http://wildesalome.com/) and you can follow the production on twitter @WildeSalome. But for now here is the link to the radio programme and the trailer for the movie.

I would love to know if you are a fan of Pacino or Oscar Wilde and if so what your favourite quotes, favourite films or favourite plays are.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0174dzr