Pacino countdown

Al Pacino real-time thriller gets the go ahead with final casting decisions made

Oct 10 2005

Looks like Al Pacino's real-time pet-project '88 Minutes' has finally got the green light with all the remaining lead parts cast and filming due to start in Vancouver this weekend.

Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski and Neal McDonough have all been brought on board to star in this murder mystery alongside the method man himself.

In the film, Pacino plays a professor who moonlights as a FBI psychologist, which might have something to do with why someone calls him to say he's going to be murdered – or it might not.

Either way, he's got 88 minutes to chomp his way through the plot and discover whether death row inmate McDonough is involved.

Firey red-head Witt will play Pacino's love interest (let's not dwell on the age difference, but it's 35 years just for the record) and Sobieski one of his students.

Jon 'Fried Green Tomatoes' Avnet is down to direct with Gary Scott Thompson ('Split Second') scripting.

Should be a fast turnaround on this one, and with a bit of luck this could easily see a 2006 release.