Al Pacino on how he got his Modigliani film off the ground after 30 years

Exclusive: Actor talks of difficulties of getting ‘art film’ made about tortured artist, played by Riccardo Smacarcio

He is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, having made his name in the 1970s gangster classic The Godfather. Yet, despite his fame and Oscars recognition, Al Pacino struggled for 30 years to make a movie about one of the 20th century’s greatest artists because “art films” are “always difficult to get off the ground”.

He refused to give up on a drama about Amedeo Modigliani, a tortured genius who faced repeated rejection before his life was cut short in 1920 by tubercular meningitis, aged 35.