Al Pacino hasn’t made the strongest choices of late — the six most recent movies in his filmography are Hangman, The Pirates of Somalia, Misconduct, Danny Collins, Manglehorn, and The Humbling; there’s a very good chance you haven’t seen or even heard of any of them — but he’s still Al F*cking Pacino. We’re talking The Godfather. The Godfather Part II. Dog Day Afternoon. Glengarry Glen Ross. Heat. That one scene in Jack and Jill where he’s in a Dunkin Donuts commercial. Pacino’s one of the finest movie actors of all-time, but lately, he’s done his best work on the small screen.
Pacino was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie at the Emmys for his work in the HBO movie Phil Spector, and again for playing Dr. Jack Kevorkian in You Don’t Know Jack. He’ll follow that award-winning performance with Paterno, in which he took on the challenging role of disgraced Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno. Here’s the HBO description.
Starring Al Pacino in the title role, the drama centers on Penn State’s Joe Paterno in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal. After becoming the winningest coach in college football history, Paterno’s legacy is challenged and he is forced to face questions of institutional failure in regard to the victims.
They, perhaps wisely, left out the part about Pacino’s absurd impression. (There’s not a single reference to his other football movie, either.) Paterno, which also stars Riley Keough as journalist Sara Ganim and Kathy Baker as Joe’s widow Sue, premieres on April 7. You can watch the trailer above.
