Friday, July 17, 2026

From May 16th: Al Pacino Will Play Joe Paterno in Penn State HBO Movie from Barry Levinson

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Just as I told you on May 16th: Al Pacino will play famed and disgraced Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in a new HBO movie. Barry Levinson is directing. Originally Brian DePalma was going to make this movie, called “Happy Valley,” but that fell apart some time ago.

Everyone reported this news last night and this morning, but I told you three weeks ago it was game on. Levinson has to hurry as Pacino has to make it out in time for a day off and then Martin Scorsese’s “I Hear You Paint Houses.”

Levinson and Pacino have a great history together. Levinson directed Pacino for HBO as both Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Phil Spector. They also made the really great movie “The Humbling.” The latter film was destroyed by its distributor, but rent it or stream it or buy it. A little gem.

 

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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