USA: Al Pacino plays Dr. Jack Kevorkian in a new film about the controversial "right to die" doctor

Record ID: 220533

  • Title: USA: Al Pacino plays Dr. Jack Kevorkian in a new film about the controversial "right to die" doctor
  • Date: 18th April 2010
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (APRIL 14, 2010) (REUTERS) PACINO ON THE RED CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) AL PACINO, OSCAR AWARD WINNING ACTOR WHO PLAYS DR. JACK KEVORKIAN IN "YOU DON'T KNOW JACK", SAYING: "When you play a character that really exists, it is kind of eerie. I wonder if some day whoever it is plays me and I got a few names in my mind. But I wonder how I would feel if they ever made a movie about, somebody wrote the script, that they could actually get two pages on me. It would be funny -- the feeling. Imagine if somebody did a movie about you, it's kind of like. So I think that already is interesting but you do sort of, you start to merge with somebody. But it's good to have a character that you can go big, that doesn't look like you, and you have to find your way to that. I put on the Kevorkian mask. It's kind of cool. Actors like masks by the way." KEVORKIAN ON THE RED CARPET WITH HIS CURRENT LAWYER MAYER MORGANROTH (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. JACK KEVORKIAN, THE CONTROVERSIAL DOCTOR WHO STARTED A RIGHT TO DIE CRUSADE IN 1990, SAYING: "I think it will because I think the court scenes are pretty accurately done. Gee - he acted in court just like I do." KEVORKIAN'S CURRENT LAWYER MAYER MORGANROTH ADDING, "Yeah, the same, he said "no" the same way." PACINO GIVING AN INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. JACK KEVORKIAN, THE CONTROVERSIAL DOCTOR WHO STARTED A RIGHT TO DIE CRUSADE IN 1990, SAYING: "There is no need for debate. The right is ours, we have it, we're born with it. The founding fathers said that and it's in the constitution, but never looked at." ACTRESS SUSAN SARANDON TALKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUSAN SARANDON, ACTRESS WHO PLAYS RIGHT TO DIE ACTIVIST JANE GOOD IN "YOU DON'T KNOW JACK", SAYING: "I love the love story, this odd love story between Jack and Janet, you can kind of call it a love story. I think it's interesting to know the details of something like this, especially as I get up there in age. I am concerned about my quality of life. And we're very much behind other industrialized nations in terms of pain management and health care obviously, and end of life care. It's good to know what your options are and that people in this film are very brave and all the people's lives who he touched are still very very close with him, with Kevorkian." GEOFFREY FIEGER, DR. KEVORKIAN'S FORMER LAWYER TALKING TO A REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEOFFREY FIEGER, DR. KEVORKIAN'S FORMER LAWYER, SAYING: "Yeah, he does, and he'll win every award too. Because the script creates a character that is Jack but makes Jack a little more exciting than he really is."
  • Embargoed: 3rd May 2010 13:00
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  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAEAWUBX1LXUF7LKBERP2QM6F93
  • Story Text: Oscar award winning actor Al Pacino and controversial "right to die" doctor, Dr. Kevorkian, walked the red carpet Wednesday (April 14) for the premiere of the new film, "You Don't Know Jack".
    In the film, Pacino portrays Dr. Kevorkian. Labeled "Dr. Death", Kevorkian took the "end of life" debate head on in America in 1990 when he started performing a series of assisted suicides for terminally-ill patients.
    The film, which has been produced for the HBO cable television channel, offers a look at the man behind the sensational headlines. It starts with Kervokian's initial patient consultations in 1989 and then goes into the media frenzy and the lawsuits that follow when he starts using his "Mercy Machine" to perform assisted suicides.
    On the red carpet, Pacino, reflected on what he thought was the most fascinating aspect of Dr. Kevorkian's character.
    "The thing that stays with more than anything is the fact that there were so many people that went to Jack and he turned them away. He turned away 98% of the people who came to him. But then there were the people who came and he would say - go back, think about it, a couple of weeks, a month, whatever, and they didn't come back. And their relatives wrote to Jack and said - you know, they're like different people now, just knowing you're there, that they've gotten control of their life, they've taken back, their anxiety has been lifted just knowing that there's someone who can do something for them," said Pacino.
    Pacino did not meet Dr. Kevorkian as he prepared to portray him, but did do extensive research on the doctor's well documented "right to die" crusade. He talked to the doctor on the phone, but only met him after the film had been completed.
    Dr. Kevorkian took part in about 130 assisted suicides. After one of his "assisted suicides" was aired on an episode of the television program "60 Minutes", he was arrested and convicted of second-degreee murder. He was imprisoned for eight and a half years and was released in 2007.
    People who have already seen the film are quite impressed with Pacino's uncanny resemblance to the doctor. When asked about this on the red carpet, Pacino reflected on how it could be eerie portraying someone who was real and still around.
    "But I wonder how I would feel if they ever made a movie about, somebody wrote the script, that they could actually get two pages on me. It would be funny -- the feeling. Imagine if somebody did a movie about you, it's kind of like. So I think that already is interesting but you do sort of, you start to merge with somebody. But it's good to have a character that you can go big, that doesn't look like you, and you have to find your way to that. I put on the Kevorkian mask. It's kind of cool," said Pacino.
    Dr. Kevorkian, now 82, was accompanied at the premiere by his current lawyer Mayer Morganroth. Dr. Kevorkian had seen a rough cut of the film before the premiere.
    "I think the court scenes are pretty accurately done. Gee - he acted in court just like I do," said Dr. Kevorkian. As to the debate over end of life choices, Dr. Kevorkian insisted that there should be no debate because he says Americans already have that right and that it is included in the constitution.
    In the1990s, Dr. Kevorkian was aided by close friend Neal Nicol and sister Margo Janus in the assisted suicides. In the film, Nicol is played by actor John Goodman and Janus is portarted by actress Brenda Vaccaro. While actress Susan Sarandon takes on the role of Hemlock Society activist, Jane Good, who supports Kevorkian beliefs.
    "I love the love story, this odd love story between Jack and Janet, you can kind of call it a love story. I think it's interesting to know the details of something like this, especially as I get up there in age. I am concerned about my quality of life. And we're very much behind other industrialized nations in terms of pain management and health care obviously, and end of life care," said Sarandon.
    Also at the premiere was Dr. Kevorkian's first lawyer as he began his crusade -- Geoffrey Fieger. Fieger too believes that Pacino did a great job of portraying Dr. Kevorkian but that the script also made the doctor "more exciting than he really is."
    The Barry Levinson directed film airs on HBO on April 24th.
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