Names and faces
▪ Al Pacino, 83, and 29-year-old Noor Alfallah are expecting a baby, the actor’s representative confirmed Wednesday. Publicist Stan Rosenfield verified the news first published by TMZ, but said there would be no statement at this time. The baby will be Pacino’s fourth child. He has a 33-year-old daughter, Julie Marie, with acting coach Jan Tarrant and 22-year-old twins Anton and Olivia with actor Beverly D’Angelo. Pacino and Alfallah reportedly began dating last year. She describes herself as a “raconteur” on her Instagram page and her IMDB page notes that she’s a producer on two movies currently in post-production, including the Pacino-starrer “Billy Knight.” Pacino’s baby news follows close on the heels of longtime friend and collaborator Robert De Niro’s own. A representative for the 79-year-old actor confirmed this month that De Niro had become a father for the seventh time, but few details — including the identity of the mother — were released.
▪ Joaquin Phoenix is set to star in a period gay romance, director Todd Haynes revealed at the recent Cannes International Film Festival. Haynes, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker known for “Carol” and “Far From Heaven,” discussed several of his forthcoming projects during a conversation with IndieWire. One of them, his next feature film, will be an original script he developed with Phoenix “based on some thoughts and ideas he brought to me.” Without revealing much of the plot, Haynes summarized the project as “a gay love story set in 1930s L.A.” “We basically wrote with [Phoenix] as a story writer,” Haynes said of creating the script, which he expects to start shooting early next year. “Me and Jon Raymond and Joaquin share the story credit.” (Raymond is a Portland, Ore.-based writer who was nominated for an Emmy in 2011, alongside Haynes, for HBO’s limited series “Mildred Pierce.”) Phoenix, an Oscar and Grammy winner praised for his intensity and commitment to his art, should not disappoint his LGBTQ fans, according to Haynes — one of the most influential voices in queer cinema who often tells the stories of gay and marginalized characters. “Joaquin was pushing me further and going, ‘No, let’s go further,’” the filmmaker said. “This will be an NC-17 film.” Phoenix, who is in a relationship and has a child with “Carol” actress Rooney Mara, has recently received rave reviews for his work in the surrealist horror tragicomedy film “Beau Is Afraid,” written and directed by Ari Aster.