Pacino and Radford Reteam for King Lear

Five years ago, Al Pacino played Shylock in Michael Radford’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, and now, it looks like the duo will be tackling another one of the Great Bard’s plays with Pacino playing King Lear in a new film adaptation written and directed by Radford. According to Variety, this will be the first time that Pacino will play the character of King Lear, the aging monarch who selects his successor by parsing his kingdom in three parts, ruled by his trio of daughters. Two of them are scheming connivers who flatter their father, while the one loving daughter, Cordelia, refuses to play that game and is exiled. Previous cinematic King Lears include Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles and Paul Scofield. The film is slated to start shooting in Europe later this year.