Pacino Sends Video to Venice 'Father Joe' Premiere — SkimNews
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- Al Pacino did not travel to Venice for the "Father Joe" premiere, instead sending a sunglass-clad video message wishing the team well and specifically shouting out writer-producer Luc Besson and co-star Kiefer Sutherland.
- "Father Joe" stars Sutherland as a priest waging a secret war on crime rings, Pacino as a crime lord whose empire collides with that crusade, and Ever Anderson as a young woman caught between danger and redemption.
- The action thriller is set in 1990s Manhattan Little Italy, marks Barthélémy Grossmann's directing debut, and was written and produced by Luc Besson, who called it a "modern fable about faith, redemption and the complexity of human nature."
- Sutherland said he joined the project because of his lifelong admiration for Besson, noting he had watched Besson make "films I wish I had been in" before Besson finally cast him.
- Besson described a deliberately hands-off producer role, saying he tried not to bother Grossmann during production: "As long as he doesn't have a problem, I'm not there."
- Besson was one of the first prominent French figures to face sexual assault allegations in the #MeToo era after being accused of rape by Belgian-Dutch actor Sand Van Roy; he was ultimately cleared of all charges.
Why it matters: Besson — the influential French director behind "The Fifth Element" and "Lucy" — returns as a writer-producer on a character-driven crime fable, a quieter reinvention than directing. The pairing with Sutherland, who calls this a long-deferred career wish, anchors a Venice premiere that had to lean on its supporting cast because Pacino skipped in person.
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