Director Brian De Palma and actor Al Pacino will team up once again, this time to make "Happy Valley," a biopic telling the story of Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, according to
Deadline New York.
De Palma and Pacino are the acting/directing dream team that made the crime flicks "Scarface" and "Carlito's Way" such smash successes. "Happy Valley" will be adapted from the book "Paterno" by Joe Posnanski. Pacino came attached to play Paterno when the book was optioned for screenplay.
Edward R. Pressman, best known for "Wall Street," will head production for "Happy Valley" with Pacino's manager, Rick Nicita. Dave McKenna, who penned "American History X" and "Blow," is optioning to write the screenplay.
"'Happy Valley'" reunites the 'Scarface' and 'Carlito's Way' team of De Palma & Pacino for the third time and I can’t think of a better duo to tell this story of a complex, intensely righteous man who was brought down by his own tragic flaw," Pressman told Deadline while confirming the deal.
Paterno was undone in 2011 after a huge child sex-abuse scandal that revolved around assistant former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Paterno allegedly knew that Sandusky molested children on Penn State grounds, but did nothing to stop the crimes from continuing.
Paterno died from lung cancer complications on Jan. 22, 2012, but his fans say he may have equally died of a broken heart. Paterno was reaching the end of his career as the winningest college football coach in history.
The revelation that he knew of Sandusky's pedophilia marred his legacy. The coaching staff did not call police, even after another assistant coach notified Paterno of an incident in the Penn State locker rooms in which it appeared Sandusky sodomized a young boy.
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