The idea of Al Pacino playing surrealist legend Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí y Domènech makes sense, though I don’t know if the artist ever hulked around intensely in between explosive bursts of dialogue. I love Al to death but sometimes it seems like instead of traditional casting sessions the producers just rolled for wandering monsters. We’ll soon see which Pacino we get as the sometimes sublime and sometimes overt Hollywood great reteams with his Sim0ne director Andrew Niccol on the flick Dali & I: The Surreal Story which has just added the brave Cillian Murphy to its ranks. I call him brave because of his decision not to shave his bush a little for the "pig in blanket" intro for 28 Days Later. I’m not saying I’d have had to force the cinematographer to break out a wider lens but a little trimming goes a long way and I’d have tried to make my own Lt. Peepers a little more ready for prime time.
Niccol’s had a bit of an odd career, coming out of the gate with the excellent Gattaca and the slightly overvalued The Truman Show before the abysmal aformentioned Pacino/Rachel Roberts assterpiece. Since then he’s just worked on a few films that could have been special but came short [Lord of War for one] but I still think the guy’s got a few great films in him. Heaven knows Sim0one must’ve been humbling enough to send him to the creative well with two big buckets.
A Dali flick could work, because the guy’s eccentricities lend themselves to cinema and his work speaks for itself. It seems like both a great role for Pacino to disappear into as well as a chance for both the Spirit Gum and Fake Hair unions to stave off a work stoppage for another season thanks to the gravity molesting whiskers of the man who did for dripping clocks what Mr. Murphy did for sleeping cocks.
The film is set to lens early next year and by then I’ll have more than penis jokes to share on the project.