Pacino To Play Napoleon In BETSY AND THE EMPEROR Film

Al Pacino will star as Napoleon Bonaparte in the screen adaptation of Staton Rabin's children's book "Betsy and the Emperor," trade paper Variety reports.

The film, featuring a screenplay by scribe Brian Edgar, will be directed by John Curran and produced by Killer Films.

The book, about a 15-year-old girl who meets Napoleon after his exile on the island of St. Helena, was published in 2004.

Adi Cohen and Joseph Grinkorn's GC Corp. has acquired all film and stage adaptation rights and will finance the pic.

The film had previously been in the works at Warner Bros.' kids unit Storyopolis. French director Patrice Chereau had been onboard for what would have been his first English-language picture. Pacino has been attached to the movie since the original incarnation.

Pacino is a two-time Tony Award winner for his work in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. His other Broadway appearances include American Buffalo, Hughie, and Salome. Eight-time Oscar nominee - and winner for Scent of a Woman - Pacino's film credits include The Godfather trilogy, Dog Day Afternoon, Glengarry Glen Roos, and Frankie and Johnny. He is set to star in a new film version of King Lear. Pacino also won the Emmy Award for his portrayal of Roy Cohn in HBO's miniseries version of Angels in America.