Al Pacino might have another football movie to add to his long Hollywood resume.
Deadline reports that the 72-year-old Any Given Sunday actor is in talks to play the late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in a new film.
The project will be based on Joe Posnanski’s biography, Paterno, which debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list in August.
Pacino’s possible attachment to the new film comes nearly one year after news broke of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal.
Paterno, commonly referred to as “JoePa” by members of the Penn State football community, died in January, shortly after news of the sex scandal involving his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky rocked the sports world.
In June, Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of 48 charges. The 68-year-old, who was convicted of sexually assaulting 10 boys, is currently awaiting his sentence.
Pacino is no stranger to playing real-life figures on the big screen.
His most recent roles have included Phil Spector in an untitled TV biopic, Dr. Jack Kevorkian in the TV film You Don’t Know Jack, and American attorney Roy Cohn in the HBO miniseries Angels in America.
Pacino also appears in the upcoming biopic Gotti: In The Shadow of My Father as Aniello Dellacroce, an Italian-American gangster and Gambino crime family underboss. The film also stars John Travolta and Kelly Preston.
What do you think of Al Pacino playing Joe Paterno onscreen? Is it too soon to make a film about the Penn State scandal? Share your thoughts below.
