Al Pacino has signed on to play the famed assisted-suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian  in an HBO movie that will be directed by Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man).  The project will be Pacino’s first return to television since the acclaimed “Angels in America,” unless you count re-airings of Gigli on TBS.

Pic will revolve around Kevorkian’s construction of his infamous “Mercy Machine,” his first assisted suicide in the early 1990s and the resulting media frenzy. Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 as a result of his involvement in an assisted suicide that was videotaped and later shown on TV. He was released from prison in 2007.  [Variety]

I can’t decide if I want to see the Pacino where he actually acts, or the Pacino where he just shows up and chews scenery.  I think I’d almost prefer to see Kevorkian as the wild-eyed, mailing-it-in Pacino.  “…I oughta take a FLAMETHROWER to this place!!!  And also give everyone a powerful sedative so their death by smoke inhalation is painless!  Hoo-haw!”

P.S. Check out the synergy over at FilmDrunk.  Vince and I hit the same thing from two different angles.  (Ask your mom about that, btw.)