Al Pacino, the New Napoleon

The 65-year-old Oscar-winner actor has signed on to another career defining role. Al Pacino is set to play Napoleon Bonaparte in a forthcoming biopic of the famous French emperor.

The Hollywood legend will be working again with producer Barry Navidi and director Michael Radford (The Merchant Of Venice), as he only agreed to play this part he's been waiting for seven years, because he sees them as the right team for such a movie.

According to the producer, the story will to concentrate on the last few years of Napoleon's life in exile.

"We've based it on the diaries of British teenager Betsy Balcombe, who struck up a relationship with Napoleon when he was living on St. Helena, and with whom he subsequently became infatuated. We were overjoyed when Al finally signed this week - we start filming next summer and hope to take it to Cannes Film Festival in 2007."