Last month, we reported that actor Javier Bardem decided to pass on the lead villain role in the upcoming animated sequel Despicable Me 2 which caused many tears to be shed and lives to nearly come to an end. Well, now it’s been reported that someone else has stepped into the lead villain role. Deadline brings us the news that Al Pacino has officially signed on to play the antagonist to Steve Carell’s Gru, marking the legendary actor’s first foray into the world of animated film (a fact that honestly shocked me).
As to what Pacino’s role actually is, that’s still apparently being kept under wraps but if you go back to the Bardem story from last month the role the Biutiful star passed on was named El Macho who has three sons (to match Gru’s three daughters). Is that the role Pacino has now taken? Will he dust off the Scarface accent one more time? Or is this a different villain and El Macho is just a secondary villain/character?
A lot of questions to be answered, for sure, but as Despicable Me 2 revs up to production I’m sure they’ll be answered and I’ll look like an idiot for posing them in the first place. I’m definitely interested to see if Pacino brings something to the role; he does have comedic chops (his turn in Dick Tracy and his moments in the painful otherwise Jack and Jill), but we’ll see if animated Pacino is just as lively as live action Pacino. I don’t think I said Pacino enough.
Despicable Me 2 arrives in the summer of 2013.
Does Al Pacino’s involvement in Despicable Me 2 put the movie on your radar? Are you also shocked that this Pacino’s first animated role?