Fall Guy

Al Pacino, off the screen since “Revolution” in 1985, will star as gangster Carlito Brigante in “Carlito’s Way,” to film early next year. Producer Elliott Kastner declined to discuss the project, but acknowledged that “we’re in the process of talking” with director Leon Ichaso (“Miami Vice,” and the 1984 film, “Crossover Dreams”).

Based on the Edwin Torres novel of the same title, “Carlito’s Way” has Pacino/Brigante under pressure from both sides of the law after taking a fall--and doing a prison stretch--for a don’s son. There’s also romance (with a Salsa dancer), boyhood pals who have grown into chronic coke users (and who meet violent ends), conniving state prosecutors and lots of double-crosses.

But Pacino will first be seen as a cop (opposite Ellen Barkin) in the contemporary romantic thriller “Sea of Love,” due next year from Universal.