The Joe Paterno statue is gone. Penn State is only now starting to feel the effects of the sanctions, and a Joe Paterno biopic is in the works. As you’ve already heard, Al Pacino will play Paterno. No word yet on who will play Jerry Sandusky in the film.
Joe Posnanski’s Paterno biography became a New York Times Bestseller. Now it’s a movie with a tentative title “Happy Valley.”
Creepy!
Ick!
Pacino, who’s played legendary screen characters like Michael Corleone and Tony Montana, will now lend his craft to this? Wait, this movie will be no puff piece. It’s not going to be fawning at all. It’s supposed to explore everything that comprised Joe Paterno. The disgraced way in which he went out will be prominently portrayed in “Happy Valley.”
And Pacino has played a crusty old curmudgeon football coach before, in Any Given Sunday. He just hasn’t played one who enabled and covered-up child rape. Pacino’s manager, Rick Nicita, is one of the producers.
From Penn Live:
The tumultuous end of Paterno’s tenure will play a major part in the film, Pressman told the Huffington Post. Details of the plot are scarce, but the conflicting images of Paterno figure to be a central theme…Pacino reunites with director Brian DePalma on the film, with whom he worked on “Scarface” and “Carlito’s Way.” No release date has been announced, and the rest of the cast is unknown.
Pressman refers to film producer Ed Pressman who called the movie a “complex story” and compared Paterno’s life to a “Greek tragedy” in an interview with the Huffington Post yesterday. Word is Jerry Sandusky will play a major part in the movie, and it will convey how Joe Paterno was complicit to his crimes. Will it detail how Sandusky rose to become the #2 guy in Penn State football and the heir apparent to Joe Paterno? Before he was forced to retire? We’ll see.
Like Bart Scott said “CAN’T WAIT”
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. (“Quasi-endorsed” by Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly) He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker
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