Al Pacino eyes Witness for the Prosecution

Witness for the Prosecution: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Al Pacino, who's demonstrated a flair for courtroom theatrics in movies like ... And Justice for All and The Devil's Advocate, could be stepping before the bar once again in an MGM remake of the classic Witness for the Prosecution.

Although no formal offers have gone out, Pacino has shown interest in the project, based on the Agatha Christie play, which was filmed in 1957 with Billy Wilder at the helm and Charles Laughton as the lead attorney in a case in which a wife appears as a witness for the prosecution against her husband. David E. Kelley, a veteran of television's courtrooms, would handle the screen adaptation for a producing team composed of Daniel Melnick, Marion Rosenberg and Dan Risner.

With Pacino's decision likely to depend on the choice of director, preliminary discussions have begun with Robert Benton, who most recently directed The Human Stain. Pacino, meanwhile, will be seen in another courtroom -- albeit a period one -- when he appears in Michael Radford's The Merchant of Venice, opening this month.