- 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 LEA
- 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