Al Pacino to star in Philip Roth adaptation

(AFP/JOEL SAGET)

Al Pacino has acquired the rights to Philip Roth's latest novel, The Humbling, according to a story in The New York Times. Pacino will star in the film adaptation of the novel, about an aging, irreverent stage actor who looks for renewal through a relationship with a younger woman.

According to The New York Times, Oscar-winning director of Rain Man Barry Levinson will direct, and The Graduate writer Buck Henry will write the screenplay.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Philip Roth, 76, is considered one of the most important American authors of his generation. His previous novels including American Pastoral and The Human Stain; The Humbling, his most recent title, was published in October 2009. In 2010 Roth will release his 31st title, Nemesis, a novel about a polio epidemic set in the summer of 1944.