Pacino Has Alicia Witt Awe-Inspired

By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith
With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster

Alicia Witt's character in the Friday (4/18)-opening Al Pacino thriller, "88 Minutes," is that of a teacher's assistant who's completely ga-ga over her boss. To hear Alicia carry on about Pacino, her feelings of idolization must have been pretty easy to play.

"Al goes above and beyond the norm, especially for someone who's accomplished all he has," she lets us know. "He really wanted to rehearse, and for two weeks before we started shooting, he had people come over to his house to read scenes and work on them with him. During production, he'd have people get together for Italian dinners, and we'd sit there with our scripts and work on scenes some more."

Adds the actress/singer, "He's probably always been my favorite actor. Now, I look up to him for his work ethic as well. He doesn't carry himself as someone to be idolized, which is really endearing. There's no grandiosity, no entourage. As soon as we shook hands, my nervousness went away."

Pacino plays a forensic psychiatrist/university professor who put a serial killer behind bars, and who gets told by an unidentified phone caller that he has 88 minutes to live in the flick. Witt says that, given the ticking clock aspect, "There was the challenge of trying to define what these people are to each other, but not be absurd about it" -- and the relationship had to be conveyed within glances and tones of voice.

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