Al Pacino to play Napoleon

The Academy award-winning actor is getting a chance to play the French emperor in an on-screen adaptation of children's book 'Betsy and the Emperor'.

The book is said to about the true story of Lucia Elizabeth Balcombe, whose father was Napoleon's jailer during his exile on St Helena. The two struck up a friendship and rumors flew that the exiled Emperor was romancing the teenager, though it has never been proven.


GC Corp, the venture capital fund, has picked up rights to the project and will assign the production of the film to Killer Films, with plans to begin in late autumn, the Hollywood Reporter said.

Directed by John Curran of the 'The Painted Veil' from a screenplay by Brian Edgar, the film will be based on the children's book by Staton Rabin.