Al Pacino to Star as Herod in Mary, Mother of Christ Film

Tony Award winner Al Pacino will play Herod the Great in the film Mary, Mother of Christ, to be directed by James Foley. Camilla Belle will play the title role, and Diogo Morgado, Peter O’Toole, Jessica Lange, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, and Julia Ormond are among the actors who will reportedly star in the movie, which is scheduled to begin principal photography this fall. Foley directed the film version of Glengarry Glen Ross.

As previously announced, Pacino is set to play Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who became famous for his role in assisted suicides, in HBO’s You Don’t Know Jack, and is also set to star as Napoleon in the upcoming film Betsy and the Emperor, to be directed by John Curran, and a new film version of King Lear, to be directed by Michael Radford.

Pacino is a two-time Tony Award winner for his work in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. His other Broadway appearances include American Buffalo, Hughie, and Salome.

He is an eight-time Oscar nominee, winning for Scent of a Woman. His many films include The Godfather trilogy, Dog Day Afternoon, Glengarry Glen Roos, and Frankie and Johnny, and he won the Emmy Award for his portrayal of Roy Cohn in HBO’s miniseries version of Angels in America.