HBO Joe Paterno Movie Starring Al Pacino To Film in New York This July

HBO is ramping up production for their new movie surrounding Penn State, Joe Paterno, and the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

According to Project Casting, casting directors are now seeking men and women ages 18 to 25 to play college students in the upcoming HBO feature film as it shoots in New York starting this July. Filming is expected to wrap this September.

Variety reports that the movie will center around Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in college football history, as he becomes mixed into the Penn State Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal. The HBO movie will focus on Paterno’s legacy, and the college football coach is forced to face harsh questions.

HBO Joe Paterno
(Image Credit: Paul Kane / Tinseltown / via Shutterstock.com)

About the Penn State Child Sex Abuse Scandal

In case you missed it, the Penn State child sex abuse scandal centers around Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions. Sandusky was charged and convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse of children as the coach located and groomed victims through his charity organization, The Second Mile.

The scandal started in early 2011 when Sandusky was indicted on over 50 counts of child molestation. While Sandusky’s abuse may have begun over 40 years ago, he was charged with abuse that occurred between 1994 and 2009. Moreover, three school officials including the school president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley were charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, failure to report suspected child abuse and other related charges. After the child sex abuse scandal had broken, Spanier designed, and the Penn State Board of Trustees terminated the contracts of head football coach, Joe Paterno.

Joe Paterno Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – OCT 9: Penn State’s coach Joe Paterno watches his players warm up before a game against Illinois at Beaver Stadium October 9, 2010 in University Park, PA (Editorial credit: Richard Paul Kane / Shutterstock.com)

According to an independent investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh and his law firm, the Freeh report found that Spanier and Paterno had known about allegations of child abuse conducted by Sandusky as early as 1998, and did not disclose them. As a result, Freeh argued that the most senior leaders at Penn State showed “total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims,” which called for Sandusky to become “empowered” to continue his abuse.

By March 2017, an investigation by the Penn State officials ended with Curley, Schultz, and Spanier guilty of misdemeanor charges of child endangerment, and in June 2017, all three were sentenced to prison.