Al Pacino to Star as Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno in New Bio Film

Al Pacino, star of the upcoming Broadway revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, will play former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno in a new film, according to Deadline.com. The movie will be based on Joe Posnanski’s New York Times bestselling biography Paterno. The movie will follow Paterno’s life before Penn State, his career highs and subsequent demise after the Jerry Sandusky scandal. No writer or director is currently attached to the project.

Pacino won Tony Awards for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, and received an additional nomination for The Merchant of Venice. His other Broadway credits include Salome, Hughie, Chinese Coffee, American Buffalo and King Richard III. His many film credits include The Godfather trilogy, Scent of a Woman, Heat, Serpico, Scarface, Angels in America, Insomnia, Any Given Sunday, The Insider and Donnie Brasco. 

Glengarry Glen Ross begins performances October 16 at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.