Pacino, Swank Are Insomniacs
February 26 -- Al Pacino has committed to star in Insomnia, a remake of a 1997 Norwegian film about a police detective who accidentally kills his partner and eventually finds himself conspiring with a murderer. Boys Don't Cry star Hilary Swank joins the production as a female officer who tries to uncover the truth."Any time you have a chance to work with Pacino, you jump at it, but this is particularly exciting because he's who we had in mind almost since we got the remake rights three years ago," Paul Witt, one of the film's producers, tells Daily Variety.Director Christopher Nolan, who won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting award at Sundance for his cleverly constructed noir Memento, will direct for the fledging Alcon production company. The setting of the film has been moved from Norway to Alaska, where Pacino is called to investigate a killing but finds himself committing a murder of his own. The actual shoot will be happen in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is set to begin April 12.Alcon is financing the film, which will be produced with Witt-Thomas and Warner Bros.-based Section Eight Films. Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney will executive-produce with Tony Thomas and Charles Schlissel, according to The Hollywood Reporter
Pacino begins work on the film after wrapping People I Know, about a New York publicist. Swank, an Oscar winner last year, was last seen in The Gift. She also starred in another Alcon production, The Affair of the Necklace, which will be distributed by Warner Bros. in the fall.
The original Insomnia was directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg, who recently helmed Prozac Nation, which starred Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård (Good Will Hunting, Deep Blue Sea).
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