Al Pacino

New York, Dec. 8 (Reuters): After years of gangsters, villains and hard men with a heart, Al Pacino has come back to Shakespeare and after playing Jewish moneylender Shylock he has his sights set on King Lear and Macbeth.

?Learning it in school was a bit of a bore,? Pacino admitted to reporters in New York where he was promoting his new movie The Merchant of Venice in which he plays Shylock.

Nonetheless Pacino, now 64 and still best known for playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather that first hit screens in 1972, says he did get hooked on the bard at school.

?Some actors have an appetite for it, some actors don?t,? he said. ?It?s just what rings your bell.?

He said The Merchant of Venice may be difficult for audiences given the moral complexities, particularly his character who loans a fortune on condition that he receive a pound of the borrowers flesh if the loan is not repaid.

?I?ve always found there?s a way Shakespeare can be presented to make it more entertaining and get a sense of its relevance,? he said, recalling his 1996 documentary Looking for Richard, about Shakespeare?s Richard III.

Asked about future plans for more Shakespeare, Pacino said he had discussed a couple of movies ? King Lear, the tragedy of a father and his three daughters, and ?the Scottish play,? an actor?s superstitious reference to Macbeth.