Al Pacino Playing Napoleon

In Get Shorty, Danny DeVito's Martin Weir played Napoleon Bonaparte in one of the biggest movies of that year. Because the studios like to mimic each other, I can't believe we will have waited another 15 years to see a Hollywood studio go after Napoleon. Al Pacino has signed on to play a version of Napoleon in the upcoming childrens book adaptation, Betsy and the Emperor. He would be the Emperor in that equation. The book was written by Staton Rabin, and the film version will come up through Killer Films. You can get all the financial details at The Hollywood Reporter. John Curran will direct the movie, which is said to be ramping up for an autumn production start. And now, for the first time ever, we quote an official synopsis from School Library Journal:

"Betsy Balcombe has just returned to her remote island home of St. Helena from boarding school in London. At 14, she is a headstrong, adventure-seeking young lady. She gamely faces the challenge of playing host to Napoleon Bonaparte, who is exiled on the forbidding island after his capture at Waterloo. The only member of her family who is not timid around the former emperor of France, Betsy strikes up an unlikely friendship with "Boney" that surprises both of them."

A year ago, Emma Watson was scribbled in for the role of Betsy, but that's actually a different movie. It's called Napoleon and Betsy. See the difference?