The career of Al Pacino is to be celebrated by the first extensive retrospective to be held in New York, EW can exclusively reveal.
The series, titled “Pacino’s Way,” will take place at The Quad Cinema, March 14-29. The retrospective will feature over 25 titles — the majority screening on 35mm prints — and will honor Pacino’s work both in front of and behind the camera. The schedule of films includes The Godfather, Serpico, The Panic in Needle Park, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Sea of Love, Heat, and his directorial debut, the documentary Looking for Richard. The Godfather actor himself with attend select screenings during the “Pacino’s Way” retrospective.
“I am grateful to The Quad Cinema for having this retrospective of my films,” says Pacino in a statement. “It’s particularly heartwarming because Greenwich Village where the Quad is located is the place where I went to live as a teenager and where I developed as a young actor. In a sense this is a homecoming for me and I am deeply honored and remain humbled by this acknowledgement.”
“Al Pacino is not only one of our greatest living performers, he’s perhaps the quintessential New York actor,” says the Quad’s Director of Programming, C. Mason Wells. “We’re honored to be able to celebrate his career in the city that nurtured his growth as an artist.”
The retrospective leads up to the theatrical premiere on March 30 of the documentary-drama Wilde Salomé (2011), and its companion piece Salomé (2013) — both starring Jessica Chastain alongside Pacino, who directed the two films. Wilde Salomé is a documentary exploring the complexities of Oscar Wilde’s acclaimed play Salomé — and Wilde himself. Salomé dispenses with the former film’s documentary elements to focus on the play’s themes of greed and revenge. Following The Quad’s 16-day retrospective, Wilde Salomé and Salomé will be presented theatrically in New York and Los Angeles.
“Salomé is my attempt to merge theatre and film” says Pacino. “The mediums can often collide and my hope is to have them unify so that you’re seeing pure theatre on film. To make that hybrid effective has been my goal; to have the more naturalistic, photogenic qualities of film complement the language-driven essence of classical theatre.”
The retrospective’s full lineup and schedule will be announced in February.
