Brian De Palma and Al Pacino are reuniting, for a different sort of
film than "Scarface" or "Carlito's Way" for the director-star team:
"Happy Valley," the story of disgraced Penn State football coach Joe
Paterno.
Producer Edward R. Pressman, who optioned Joe Posnanski's book
"Paterno" as the basis for the film, said of De Palma and Pacino, "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." Paterno's
45-year career as Penn State's football coach ended abruptly in 2011
when he was found to be complicit in the coverup of his assistant Jerry
Sandusky's multiple sexual abuses of children.
While the story of a college football coach undone by misplaced
loyalty to a subordinate may not seem to bear much resemblance to the
previous two De Palma/Pacino collaborations, the ultimate doom Paterno
faced as a result of his mistake resembles Tony Montana's poor impulse
control heedlessly sowing the seeds of his own destruction less than it
does Carlito Brigante's willful inability to recognize the changes of
time.
"Happy Valley" will proceed once a screenwriter is hired to adapt
Posnanski's book. David McKenna ("American History X," "Blow") has been
approached. Release date and distribution information is as yet unknown.

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