David Gordon Green’s productivity amazes me. Not only is he promoting Prince Avalanche while wrapping up production on Joe (starring Nicolas Cage), but he’s also begun planning his newest film Manglehorn, and he wants Academy Award-winning actor and industry legend Al Pacino as the lead. The film would tell the story of an ex-con living in anonymity while nursing his sick cat and slowly falling into a dull routine, but his tranquility is eventually threatened when he’s unmasked as a man with a dark past.
Al Pacino’s career is at an all-time low. His latest movies make little effort to showcase his wonderful acting skills — Stand Up Guys barely made a passing grade, The Son of No One was laughable, and nobody is willing to accept the fact that Jack and Jill even exists (except Adam Sandler, of course). Nevertheless, I still enjoy Pacino quite a bit. Maybe I’m just hanging on to the idea of a younger Pacino, who delighted audiences and critics alike with flawless performances in Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon. Perhaps Manglehorn can give the actor back the confidence to take on more serious roles, and hopefully it will get him the accolades he truly deserves.
As far as David Gordon Green goes, well, he is an exciting filmmaker, no doubt about that. Has anyone seen his debut film George Washington? OK, probably not. Still, it’s a solid movie. How about All the Real Girls and Pineapple Express? The former was an instant indie hit, while the latter went on to become an iconic stoner film. Sounds like a fairly decent career, right? Wrong. Critical reception of the director’s later films has been intermittent, to say the least. Is intermittent the right word? I mean terrible. Despite early success with thoughtful indie dramas, somewhere down the road the guy decided to make Your Highness and The Sitter — two tragedies in less than a year. Will he get back on track with Joe and Manglehorn?
Manglehorn was co-written by Paul Logan and is being financed by Worldview Entertainment.