Academy Award winner Al Pacino will portray Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in an upcoming HBO movie about the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Barry Levinson has signed on as executive producer and director of the film, which will chronicle the scandal that tarnished Paterno’s legacy, nearly destroyed the Penn State football program, resulted in jail time for several university administrators and shattered dozens of lives.
Paterno served as head coach of the Penn State football team from 1966 to 2011, when he was dismissed from the team in the fallout from the Sandusky scandal. Sandusky, who served as the assistant coach at Penn State from 1969 to 1999, was arrested and charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse of young boys in late 2011. The abuse allegedly took place over a 15-year period, from 1994 to 2009. In 2012, he was found guilty of 45 charges of sexual abuse and sentenced to 60 years in prison.
Paterno died in early 2012 of complications from lung cancer just two months after he was fired from his longtime coaching job.
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter
