Is Al Pacino Your Jack Kevorkian?

It's as intriguing a project as any since, well, last week: Al Pacino is said to be in talks to play Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the so-called "Dr. Death" who helped more than 150 terminally ill patients end their lives between 1990 and 1998. The HBO Films biopic -- tentatively titled You Don't Know Jack -- is set to be directed by Barry Levinson. But the bombastic New York Italian as a mild-mannered Michigan Armenian? Are you sure about that?

It's no doubt... ambitious, but going by the somewhat uncanny likeness between aging, flat-topped Michael Corleone and Kevorkian himself, plus the home run Pacino hit in his previous HBO outing Angels in America (come to think of it, old Roy Cohn kind of resembles Kevorkian as well), one should appreciate the odds. Plus it's better than seeing previously rumored Ben Kingsley in the role, and ultimately, anything that keeps us from 88 Minutes 2 is worth the gamble. It's just too bad the title Righteous Kill was already taken.

[Apologies to Time Magazine]

· Al Pacino circles Kevorkian biopic [THR]