NEW YORK: Al Pacino as a stand-up comic? That’s how he started his career, the Oscar-winning actor says. “There’s a facility I have to fall down. I had a certain physical comedy I did with a partner. And I thought I was going to do that,” he recently said. “But I didn’t want to be funny all the time, only when I felt like it. And that’s not a good idea.”

Pacino, 64, won the best-actor Oscar in 1993 for ‘Scent of a Woman’. His screen credits also include ‘Dog Day Afternoon’, ‘The Godfather’ movies and ‘Serpico’.

He plays Shylock in his latest film, ‘The Merchant of Venice’. “There’s a bit of a myth here with me and Shakespeare. Like I’m piped into Shakespeare or something,” he said. “I’m not. Believe me. I’m not here to be a representative or sort of present Shakespeare to the world. He doesn’t need me.”

Pacino also said playing Shakespeare isn’t a prerequisite for becoming an important actor. “One has to have an appetite for it,” he said. “It’s not a criteria for ‘oh, you’re going to be a big-time actor if you do Shakespeare’.” — AP