Al Pacino Henri Matisse Biopic

Screen luminary Al Pacino has been cast as Henri Matisse in a film about the French artist that will be directed by award-winning Canadian lensman Deepa Mehta.

The still-untitled film will focus on Matisse’s relationship with his nurse and muse, Monique Bourgeois. The pair met in 1942, when Bourgeois was 21 years old and the artist was in his 70s. They were separated by World War II, but eventually reunited in 1946. Bourgeois became a nun and inspired Matisse to paint one of his most famous works – Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence, France.

Pacino last won acclaim, and an Emmy, for playing killer MD Jack Kevorkian in the HBO drama You Don’t Know Jack.