al_pacino_blink_image_01.jpg

Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most exciting authors working today.  His books, "The Tipping Point", "Blink", and "Outliers" are all fascinating studies that combine sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, and comes up with a unique approach delivered as a compelling narrative.

On the other side, Al Pacino is one of the worst actors working today.  He's become a parody of himself, reliable for looking strung-out and ready to yell at a moment's notice.  The seething intensity he brought to his early work of "The Godfather" and "Dog Day Afternoon" has been lost to eardrum-shattering shouts from a constantly-hoarse larynx.  He also resembles an old Jewish woman, which is weird.

But the two shall meet in Stephen Gaghan's adaptation of Gladwell's "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking".  The book is about how various experts can instantly identify a solution even if they cannot immediately verbalize their conclusion.  The miniature stories within the book are fascinating and when the project was first announced, I wondered what Gaghan would turn into a feature film.

It turns out: none of it.  Instead, according to THR's Risky Biz Blog, he's just remaking "Scent of a Woman": Gaghan's script will center on the relationship between an older man (Pacino) and the twentysomething son he was never close to. The two reconnect early on in the pic, and the boy, an idealistic drifter who's teaching in a downtown New Yok school, and the father, a finance type living in Connecticut, must navigate their new relationship.  The book weaves in when Pacino's character uses his son's "blink" ability for financial gain on Wall Street because in this current economic climate, if audiences want to root for people who are scoring big on Wall Street.

Casting is currently under way for the hunky young son that we're meant to believe sprang forth from Pacino's loins.  Watch it be Robert Pattinson.  I'm calling it right now.