Al Pacino says he can relate to Simon Axler, the lead character in his film The Humbling — about an aging actor who worries he’s lost his craft and his appetite for acting. That’s partly why he made the film. “I thought I had a better chance of making a movie that was effective because it was about a world I understood,” the Oscar-winning actor said in a recent interview to promote the film. At 74, Pacino said that at times he feels his age. “I do feel differently. I don’t quite get up from this table the same way. I may want to but I don’t.” Yet the actor said the similarities end there. Simon may be ready to give up acting but Pacino is not. “Acting, especially if you’ve done it as long as I have,” he said, “it becomes such a part of your nature you rarely ever think about quitting or anything like that.” The star of such films as The Godfather trilogy and Scent of a Woman, which won him his 1992 best-actor Oscar, said he’s convinced there’s another big role ahead of him, but adding, “I don’t know if it’s going to be in movies. … Acting, it can take on different forms.” The actor said maturing has also presented him with a new way to look at family, specifically how to raise his 14-year-old twins, Anton and Olivia, with actress and former girlfriend Beverly D’Angelo. Pacino, who also has a 25-year-old daughter with acting coach Jan Tarrant, said he has the younger children 50 percent of the time. “My younger children I had when I was older and so that’s something that I’m involved in, very much,” he said. “Life has so much variety that acting is just a part of it now. It used to be all of it. Now it’s a part of it.”
Actor Patrick Dempsey is trying to keep a low profile at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Fla. A day after he and his wife announced they are divorcing after 15 years of marriage, Dempsey skipped an autograph session for fans — an event he usually takes part in — and was noticeably absent on the starting grid before the twice-around-the-clock endurance race at Daytona International Speedway. The 49-year-old Grey’s Anatomy star spoke Friday before news broke that he and wife, Jillian Fink, mutually agreed to end their marriage. He talked about being in the best shape of his life, which he’s hoping will have him prepared for a full racing schedule that includes at least 10 endurance events, and his next Hollywood project.