AL Pacino has told how he owes his dazzling screen career to his love of Oscar Wilde. The star, 79, researched and directed a documentary on Wilde a few years ago, which had its world premiere at the Dublin International Film Festival. Pacino had already starred in such cinematic masterpieces as The ­Godfather, Scarface and Glengarry Glen Ross, when he saw Steven Berkoff in a production of Salome.

Pacino told the Irish Sun on ­Sunday: “That changed everything for me and I realised I owe ­everything to Oscar Wilde and I’ll be forever in debt to him.” Currently starring opposite fellow titans Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman — which also features Ray Romano — Pacino plays the role of enigmatic union leader Jimmy Hoffa.