Al Pacino's 'Wilde Salome': Actor Deals With His Passion For Oscar Wilde (VIDEO)

"I didn't know what to do with this passion, these feelings I had -- for Oscar Wilde."

These are the words of none other than Al Pacino, the director, actor, and all-around force behind the movie "Wilde Salome," a film/documentary mix that explores Pacino's deep feelings for Wilde's play about the biblical temptress. The film is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival, out of competition.

The trailer shows Pacino and his cohorts trampling around England in search of Oscar Wilde, whoever or whatever that might turn out to be. This is, Pacino says, his "obsession." Pacino has played King Herod on the stage multiple times over his career, a monarch in the throes of a very different obsession. Back in 1992, The New York Times compared his interpretation of the character as "close to Caligula or Nero."

Frenzied, energetic and wild-haired, Pacino is the focal point of this very personal quest to make not only a play, not only a movie of the play, but a documentary of the entire thing as well. Jessica Chastain, seen recently in the movies "The Help" and "Tree of Life," is his Salome.

WATCH the trailer below: