Al Pacino is set to play a Mafia boss once again in a new kidnapping thriller.
Pacino, who has famously played mob bosses and gangsters in films like The Godfather, The Irishman, and Scarface, will play a real-life mob boss in the film Captivated.
As per Deadline, the film will focus on Calabrian mafia boss Saro (played first by Tony Kebbell, and then next, in the present day, by Pacino) who kidnaps the grandson of one of the world’s richest men, Jean Paul Getty. The boss puts his organisation at risk when he falls in love with his victim’s mother (played by Katie Holmes) during ransom negotiations that follow.
Michael Mammoliti, one of the producers of the project, is the nephew of Saro Mammoliti, one of the main kidnappers. As per Deadline, he has been working on a project about the events for several years.
Shooting is due to start later this winter in Italy. The director will be Dito Montiel (Man Down) who co-wrote the script with Robin Shushan and Mammoliti.
“Captivated has all the ingredients of a great film, a fantastic script, stellar cast, and visionary director, Benaroya Pictures CEO and IFT Founder Michael Benaroya said of the film. “We couldn’t be more excited to have it on our slate.”
Mammoliti added: “Our goal is to give a voice to a person who’s had none for 50+ years, and tell a side of this story no one knows.”
Back in March, Pacino announced details of his “astonishingly revelatory” memoir Sonny Boy which is set for release later this year.
The book will be published by Penguin Random House and has been described in a press release as the “memoir of a man who has nothing left to fear and nothing left to hide.” The statement continues, calling the book “an astonishingly revelatory account of a creative life in full.”
Sonny Boy will cover the legendary actor’s childhood in New York, his upbringing with his “fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents”, his crew of friends in the Bronx along with the years he spent attending New York’s fabled High School of Performing Arts.
The book will also discuss Pacino’s work in New York’s avant garde theater scene in the 60s and 70s before his major movie break with The Panic of Needle Park, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.
Speaking of Sonny Boy in a press release, Pacino shared: “I wrote Sonny Boy to express what I’ve seen and been through in my life. It has been an incredibly personal and revealing experience to reflect on this journey and what acting has allowed me to do and the worlds it has opened up. My whole life has been a moonshot, and I’ve been a pretty lucky guy so far.”
Sonny Boy is set for release on October 8. Visit here to pre-order the memoir.
In other news, Pacino made a minor slip-up when announcing the winner of the Best Picture award at this year’ Oscars ceremony.
The Scarface star didn’t seem to follow the traditional process of reading out the full list of nominees before announcing the winner. Instead, he skipped straight to opening the envelope.
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