Al Pacino is set to play the superbly cast role of Salvador Dali in a new film called Dalí & I: The Surreal Story.

Previously I wrote about the news in the story Salvador Dali film due, and there I thought it wasn't such a great idea.

I think that's rather unfortunate for a number of reasons. Firstly that was when all his great works were behind him, the works that we would all know and recognise him for, and it's looking at the man through this art dealer who not many of the general audience would know.

I would love to see a film which looked at his earlier years and how he grew to create some of these great works rather than something looking at his later, less famous years. I think there's something rather sad in seeing an artist after his peak.

The news that Pacino has signed comes from Empire and does lend a lot of weight to the film. Andrew Niccol is to direct, who previously wrote The Truman Show and wrote and directed Gattaca (highlights), he also directed Lord of War and S1m0ne (lowlights). The good news is that his strengths seem to be in writing, and he's co-written this film so maybe there's a chance of this moving to the highlights rather than the lowlights.

There's also the possibility that if this works well we might see a film of Dali's early years, which would be an excellent move I think.