Joe Paterno Biopic Starring Al Pacino to Air on HBO in Spring 2018

Filming for the biopic took place last summer, and Pacino will portray the late Paterno.

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Paterno, a biopic of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, will debut on HBO this spring with Academy Award-winning actor Al Pacino portraying the title character.

Paterno spent 46 years as Penn State's head coach and amassed 409 wins, the highest win total in NCAA FBS history. But his career ended ignominiously, as he was dismissed from the university for his failure to deal with the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal properly. 

The film, which was shot last summer, will apparently focus on the aftermath of that scandal. Here is the official tagline, which was released by HBO last summer.

“After becoming the winningest coach in college football history, Joe Paterno is embroiled in Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, challenging his legacy and forcing him to face questions of institutional failure on behalf of the victims.”

Al Pacino is Joe Paterno in #PaternoHBO. Premieres Spring 2018 on #HBO. pic.twitter.com/AhyjMgmoTC

— HBO (@HBO) January 11, 2018

The film is directed by Barry Levinson, who won the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on Rain Man. Levinson also directed The Natural, a classic baseball movie, as well as Wizard of Lies, HBO's biopic of Bernie Madoff. 

Paterno died of complications from lung cancer just two months after he was fired. He was 85.