There was a point yesterday where Joe Paterno’s estate and Penn State fans probably felt cautious optimism for the first time in months, like they could, thanks to a diversion elsewhere, finally feel some pride in their team without outside scrutiny. Well that didn’t last long. Joe Paterno’s back in the news, thanks to the story that producer Edward Pressman and writer Dave McKenna’s Paterno biopic project, Happy Valley (based on the book Paterno by Joe Posnanski), has picked up director Brian DePalma. Brian DePalma is a natural choice for the project, considering he’s been absolutely on fire lately, rattling off a string of hits that includes… uh… and… hmmm…

Pacino became attached to play Paterno when a package including the book was shopped by ICM last fall. Pressman will produce with Pacino’s manager, Rick Nicita, who was part of that original package. They are keeping a somewhat low profile on the focus of the film for now. “Happy Valley reunites the Scarface and Carlito’s Way team of De Palma & Pacino for the third time and 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,” said Pressman in confirming the deal to Deadline. [Deadline]

I credit De Palma as being the director who really got Pacino ACTING! with a capital A, and Pacino has only become more of an ACT-TOR in the 20 years since they last worked together. It’ll be a miracle if this goes anywhere but HBO, but on the off chance it does make it to theaters, I have a feeling Pacino’s going to be acting so hard that I’d be scared to watch it without a mouthpiece.

Also, “Joe Posnanski” is just Joe Paterno with a fake mustache making Polack jokes, right?

Al Pacino is attached to play disgraced former legend Joe Paterno in a biopic, which I thought sounded really weird at first, but then I made this Photoshop, and now I can totally see it. Technology, am I right?

ICM Partners next week will be taking a package for a movie about former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, with Al Pacino attached. The package will be built around Joe Posnanski’s biography Paterno, which is now atop The New York Times Bestseller List in its second week. Pacino’s manager, Rick Nicita, will produce.

The narrative arc of the movie that will be shopped is obvious. A man becomes the winningest coach in college football history and builds a powerhouse football program that turns him into a campus deity. When his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is revealed to be a pedophile and it comes out Paterno was told and helped hide the scandal, the coach was summarily fired. He died shortly after of cancer — and many feel of a broken heart — and the school had little choice but to raze a fabled statue of Paterno just as the NCAA dropped the hammer with sanctions against the school that included removal of Paterno’s wins going back to the cover-up. Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts of sexual abuse against young boys and is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Posnanski, an award-winning sportswriter who has written for Sports Illustrated and The Kansas City Star, had spent a year working on the book when the scandal broke. The book–and the movie–isn’t just about Paterno’s demise but rather his life before Penn State, his family and the iron grip he held over Penn State football and politics until his downfall. [Deadline]

SAY HALLO TO MY LEETO FRANE! Now say goodbye because you’re never going to be allowed to be alone together. Anyway. The only things worse than biopics are biopics hastily thrown together to capitalize on a recent death. By the time they come out they feel like a meme that’s already run its course, like a guy still wearing a Charlie Sheen “winning” t-shirt. I guess what I’m saying is, if this ever happens, when it comes out I’ll probably have to make like Paterno and just look the other way. (*pulls out pistol, pulls trigger, a flag pops out that says “OBVIOUS JOKES”*)

This obviously adds a new context to all your favorite Pacino clips and quotes. Especially this one:

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