If you're looking for a podcast to listen to this week then you could do a lot worse than sit down and soak in Bill Simmons' chat with Al Pacino and director, Barry Levinson. The pair have worked together in the past but have reunited for HBO's upcoming movie Paterno.
The film tells the story of The Penn State child sex abuse scandal through the eyes of longtime head coach, Joe Paterno. During his reign, Paterno became the most victorious coach in NCAA history, coaching five different undefeated teams. The fairytale came to an abrupt end in 2011 when he was fired by Penn State, following the arrest of his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, who had been charged with sexual abuse of young boys.
Following Sandusky's arrest, on 5 November 2011, it was accused that Paterno had known of allegations and concealed information about Sandusky's behaviour. Paterno announced that he would step down as head coach at the end of the season but on 9 November his contract was immediately terminated. Later that month he was also diagnosed with lung cancer. He died on 22 January 2012.
Obviously a couple of paragraphs cannot do the full scale of this story justice but judging by the trailer, Paterno may do a far better job.
Speaking to Simmons, Pacino explained that the movie will try to understand Paterno's state of mind as the whole ordeal unfolded:
You consume it in some way. His state, his finding out about the situation and what he’s going through. That’s the kind of denial from it. The kind of emotions he goes through to cope with what he feels is first an unjust accusation and starts thinking, ‘is it?’
You can listen to the full podcast interview below.
