Al Pacino to Play Jack Kevorkian

The culture of death is being pushed from many quarters, perhaps most harmfully by the purveyors of popular culture.

Jack Kevorkian assisted the suicides of at least 130 people—most of whom were not terminally ill and five of whom were not sick according to autopsies—and murdered one. He ripped out the kidneys of one of his victims after death, that of a former cop who had become quadriplegic from a gunshot wound. His ultimate goal was what he called “obitiatry,” that is, experimenting on living human beings before they were euthanized.

But none of that mattered or matters. And now, he is going to be celebrated in a puff movie based on the book by his fawning acolyte Neal Nicol—A-list mega star Al Pacino starring
as Kevorkian. From the story:


Al Pacino is in negotiations to star in “You Don’t Know Jack,” an HBO Films biopic about Dr. Jack Kevorkian that Barry Levinson will direct.

Kevorkian, also known as Dr. Death, assisted in more than 150 cases of suicide and had beaten the state court system in Michigan numerous times, but was finally convicted after he willingly sent a videotape of himself euthanizing a terminally ill man to “60 Minutes.” He was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 and is serving his sentence in a maximum-security prison in Michigan.

The film will trace his rise as he builds his infamous “Mercy Machine,” conducts his first assisted suicide, and starts a media frenzy with his epic legal battles defending a patient’s right to die.


You could not get a more ghoulish, solipsist public figure than Kevorkian. Yet, he is to be beatified, Hollywood style. Color me absolutely disgusted.

Culture of death? Wesley, what culture of death?

Dear Reader,

Can I be direct with you?

War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.

First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.

But we can’t do it without readers like you.

Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.


Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.

Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.

GIVE NOW

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The Church in the Age of Therapy

Matthew Loftus

In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…

Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot

Anna Farrow

On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…

The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen

Mike Aquilina

Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…