Al Pacino will star as King Lear in a new film adaptation of Shakespeare's play. The Oscar-winning actor will be directed by Michael Radford, who worked with Pacino in 2004's The Merchant of Venice, where the actor played Shylock. 

"Lear is the one that everyone aims for. Al has been toying with the idea for a long time. There's a difference between Shylock, who's only in five scenes, and Lear, who is in every scene, pretty much," says Radford.

Pacino's casting for the film has been rumoured about for years. Producer Barry Navidi, who also worked on The Merchant of Venice, says, "Before, we had the passion and the desire, but we never had a start date. We all have the energy to do King Lear now. We're hopefully creating an epic."