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Al Pacino didn’t travel to the Venice Film Festival for the premiere of “Father Joe,” but he sent a video message with well wishes to his collaborators on the movie.
“I wish I was there with all of you in Venice, which
is great and lovely. I’ve had films there. I’ve been there. I’ve experienced it,” said a sunglass-clad Pacino before he shouted out writer-producer Luc Besson (“It’s great to say his name”) and his co-star Kiefer Sutherland. “Have a good one. Best to you all.”
“Father Joe,” starring Sutherland, Pacino and Ever Anderson, takes place in 1990s Manhattan’s Little Italy and revolves around a priest who clashes with a mob boss. The action thriller was written and produced by Besson and marks the directing debut of Barthélémy Grossmann. Grossmann has referred to “Father Joe” as a “modern fable about faith, redemption and the complexity of human nature.”
Sutherland plays the titular Father Joe, described as “a man of God unlike any other” who wages a secret war — singlehandedly busting crime rings and turning the city’s underworld into his congregation. Pacino plays a powerful crime lord whose empire collides with Father Joe’s crusade. Anderson portrays a young woman caught between danger and redemption under Joe’s guidance.
Sutherland said he was drawn to the project — which he called a meditation on “good vs. evil” — because of Besson’s involvement.
“I was a huge, huge fan,” Sutherland said. “Luc had made films I wish I had been in. I thought, ‘That is the kind of movie I should be making.’ But he never hired me. Very fortunately, he thought of me for this idea.”
Besson is the influential French director of “The Fifth Element,” “Lucy” and most recently, a “Dracula” remake starring Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz. He one of the first prominent figures in France to face sexual assault allegations in the #MeToo era. He was accused of rape by Belgian-Dutch female actor Sand Van Roy, though Besson was eventually cleared of all charges.
Besson described a hands-off style as a producer on “Father Joe.”
“The good thing is I’m also a director. I don’t want to be bothered when I’m a director so I tried not to bother,” Besson said. “I’m on the back of Barthélémy. As long as he doesn’t have a problem, I’m not there.”
