Al Pacino
8
Pacino's stage work during this period include revivals of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie and Oscar Wilde's Salome. Pacino turned down an offer to reprise his role as Michael Corleone in The Godfather: The Game, ostensibly because his voice had changed dramatically since playing Michael in the first two Godfather films. As a result, Electronic Arts was not permitted to use Pacino's likeness or voice in the game, although his character does appear in it. He did allow his likeness to appear in the game adaptation of the remake of 1983's Scarface, titled Scarface: The World is Yours. Rising director Christopher Nolan worked with Pacino for Insomnia, a remake of the Norwegian film of the same name. In this film Pacino delivered a performance of a burned out character, like in
2000s
Donnie Brasco, in the words of Newsweek proving that "he can play small as rivetingly as he can play big, that he can implode as well as explode". The film and Pacino's performance were critically lauded and the film did moderately well at the box office. His next film, S1m0ne, was one that Pacino liked, but did not gain much critical praise or box office success. He played the part of a publicist in People I Know, a small film that received little attention despite a strong Pacino performance. In 2003 he had a small part in the box office flop Gigli, rarely taking a supporting role since becoming a big star, Pacino accepted the role as a favour to director Martin Brest. He moved on The Recruit, which was well received despite being a film Pacino said he "personally couldn't follow". Pacino next starred as lawyer Roy Cohn in the 2003 HBO miniseries of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America. Pacino still acts on stage and has dabbled in film directing. His film festival-screened Chinese Coffee earned good notices. Pacino starred as Shylock in Michael Radford's 2004 film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, he chose to add empathy to a character that had usually been played as a straight villain. On October 20, 2006, the American Film Institute named Pacino the recipient of the 35th AFI Life Achievement Award. On November 22, 2006, the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin awarded Pacino the Honorary Patronage of the Society. Pacino starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean's Thirteen alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould