Al Pacino takes on role of Dr. Kevorkian for HBO

By April MacIntyre May 28, 2009, 3:27 GMT

Al Pacino - Al Pacino was cast in the HBO film about right-to-die champion Dr. Jack Kevorkian, to be directed by Barry Levinson. © Insidefoto / PR Photos

Al Pacino was cast in the HBO film about right-to-die champion Dr. Jack Kevorkian, to be directed by Barry Levinson.

The HBO project will feature the Mercy Machine, and Kevorkian's first assisted suicide in the early 1990s and the extreme media fueled fall out.

Dr. Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 as a result of his involvement in an assisted suicide that was videotaped and later shown on TV. He was released from prison in 2007.

According to HBO, Levinson, Steve Lee Jones, Lydia Dean Pilcher and Glenn Rigberg will executive produce, with production scheduled for later this year. 

The project came to HBO in 2007, where Pacino and Levinson became interested and were subsequently attached.

Derek Humphry, Founder of the Hemlock Society 1980, President, ERGO and author of 'Final Exit' penned remarks regarding the man nicknamed "Dr. Death" by the press.

He wrote: "The Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization (ERGO) heartily welcomes the release from prison on parole of Dr. Jack Kevorkian after serving eight years of a 10-25 years sentence in Michigan, USA.

We hope that he can enjoy a well-deserved retirement -- he is 79 -- amongst his friends and supporters. In a better environment we trust his health will improve.

According to the existing letter of the law, Dr. Kevorkian was correctly convicted of murder. But for those who saw his helping a man dying in great pain and distress, and asking to die now, his action was justified and merciful..."