Watch Al Pacino in First Trailer for HBO’s ‘Paterno’

HBO has released its first trailer for the upcoming film about Joe Paterno (played by Al Pacino), the late Penn State University football coach dismissed from his position after he became embroiled in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. 

In the first glimpse at the Barry Levinson-directed film, Penn State football fans chant Paterno’s name over images of Jerry Sandusky being forced into a police car, Paterno holds a press conference, and Sandusky leads a small boy into an elevator. Riley Keough, playing journalist Sara Ganim, and Jock McKissic, playing a man named “Tyler,” also get screen time, looking concerned.

“Did you know about Jerry?” a man’s voice asks in the concluding sequence of the teaser, as Pacino’s Paterno flicks his eyes to the the camera.

The film follows Paterno, the winningest coach in college football history, as his legacy is challenged by his role in the Sandusky scandal. Debora Cahn (Vinyl, Grey’s Anatomy), David McKenna (S.W.A.T., Get Carter) and John C. Richards (Sahara) penned the script, and Levinson is executive producing with producing partners at Levinson/Fontana, Tom Fontana and Jason Sosnoff, as well as Ed Pressman, Rick Nicita and Lindsay Sloane. 

HBO’s Paterno will be released this spring.