- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: AL PACINO'S 'LOOKING FOR RICHARD' PREMIERES IN LONDON
- Date: 30th January 1997
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 30, 1997) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR OF ODEON CINEMA, LEICESTER SQUARE CROWDS GATHERED OUTSIDE CINEMA FOR PREMIERE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ARRIVING FOR PREMIERE MICK JAGGER AND JERRY HALL ARRIVING COMEDIAN TERRY GILLAN ARRIVING / MICHAEL BRANDON AND GLYNIS BARBER ROCK BAND AEROSMITH ARRIVING AEROSMITH LEAD SINGER STEVE TYLER TALKING ABOUT DRUGS, SAYING I'D LIKE TO TAKE HIM (SPEAKING OF NOEL GALLAGHER) TO THE MORGUE AND SHOW HIM A COUPLE OF 13 YEAR OLD KIDS WHO'VE OVERDOSED AND MAYBE HE'D CHANGE HIS OPINION BUT I WOULDN'T GLORIFY IT LIKE HE DID...SAYING I NEVER DID E (ECSTACY). I NEVER DID E, D, OR C. I GOT OUT 10 YEARS AGO (ENGLISH) FILM STAR KEVIN SPACEY ARRIVING FOR PREMIERE, POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS AL PACINO ARRIVING WITH HIS PARTNER SPACEY SAYING THEY SHOULD JUST GO SEE THE MOVIE. IT'S NOT A LOT OF SCHOLARS SITTING AROUND PONTIFICATING. IT'S ACTORS AND ACTORS THAT ARE GOOD ACTORS, SOME WHO'VE DONE SHAKESPEARE BEFORE, SOME NEVER, TALKING ABOUT THE PROCESS OF CREATING A ROLE IN THE SHAKESPEARIAN CONTEXT. IT ALSO REALLY SHOWS AL FOR THE HAM HE TRULY IS. THE BROODING GODFATHER IMAGE WILL QUICKLY WIPE AWAY BECAUSE HE'S GONE FOR THE BIG LAUGHS (ENGLISH) AL PACINO POSING WITH SPACEY PACINO SAYING IT IS BEYOND MY WILDEST DREAMS. I NEVER DREAMT IT WOULD GET THIS FAR AND IT FEELS AMAZING AND I FEEL VERY HAPPY. ANSWERING A QUESTION, PACINO SAYS THE STUDENTS DIDN'T SEEM RESPONSIVE TO SHAKESPEARE SO I PUT IT IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD THAT THERE MUST BE A WAY THAT I COULD TRY TO INFORMALLY GET INSIDE AND I WOULD START BY IMPROVISING SOMETHING AND SLOWLY I WOULD SEAGUE INTO SHAKESPEARE AND IT SEEMED TO WORK IN THE SCHOOLS. SO I THOUGHT LATER WHEN I WAS ASKED TO DO RICHARD III, I THOUGHT WELL HOW WOULD I DO IT AND I FLASHED BACK TO THE TIME IN THE SCHOOLS (ENGLISH)
- Embargoed: 14th February 1997 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: General,Royalty
- Reuters ID: LVAAE6MVZJNCKIGYMTSQL0XM1ZXJ
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: After years of thinking about it, film star Al Pacino has brought a docu-drama of William Shakespeare's Richard III to the screen.
Pacino's pet project was unveiled in Britain at a Royal premiere in London's Leicester Square on Thursday (January 30).
"Looking for Richard" is Pacino's first film as writer-director and aims to make Shakespeare accessible to the average person.
Pacino and co-star Kevin Spacey were among the cast and crew who met Britain's Prince Charles before the premiere of the movie in London's West End.
The movie is part documentary, part adaptation of Richard III.
It includes impromptu scenes in New York City, voxpops with New Yorkers about Shakespeare as well as dramatic renditions of key scenes with co-stars Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin and Aidan Quinn.
British stars Derek Jacobi, Kenneth Branagh and Sir John Gielgud also are interviewed in the film which explores what it takes to play Shakespeare's hump-backed villain.
Speaking at the premiere, Spacey said Pacino had got him interested in the project, bringing Shakespeare closer to average people who were perhaps resistant to it.
Pacino said he never dreamt the project would even get this far and it felt "amazing" to have it reach fruition.
"I toured some colleges in America and the students didn't seem responsive to Shakespeare so I put it in the back of my head that there must be a way that I could try to informally get inside," he said.
Among the celebrities who attended the premiere were Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall.
The couple came close to splitting up last year after allegations of Jagger's infidelity with a model.
Also present was rock band Aerosmith, whose lead singer Steve Tyler added his thoughts to the current drug debate raging in Britain.
Tyler condenmend Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher's comments on using the drug Ecstacy as "glorifying" the drug.
Gallagher earlier this week compared taking Ecstacy to "having a cup of tea in the morning".
Tyler said he'd like to take Gallagher to a morgue to show him teenagers who'd died from drugs overdoses.
"Maybe he'd change his opinion then," Tyler said.
"Looking for Richard" opened throughout the UK last week. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None