January 23, 2012, - 1:29 am
Too Soon?: If I Were Casting “Penn State, The Movie”
*** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ***
Since former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno just passed away Sunday (Rest In Peace), I’m sure I’ll get some comments and e-mails from some people that it’s too soon to write this. But it’s in the news now. And you know they’re ultimately gonna make a TV movie about this, probably for ESPN or even–dare I say it–Lifetime. And if I were the casting director, I know whom I’d cast in the movie. Some people have suggested Al Pacino as Joe Paterno. But not me. If I were casting the flick, “Penn State: The Movie,” I’d pick . . . Joe Pesci! I couldn’t help but realize how identical they look, especially when Pesci played a novel role for himself–mobster!–in “The Good Shepherd” (read my review).
It’d give Pesci a chance to play something besides a mobster, criminal, or other sort of malefactor. Broaden his horizons. He’s definitely got the high-pitched voice and they are dead ringers for each other.
Check out my other casting choices . . .
As Jerry Sandusky, it’s a toss up between Nick Nolte and Brian Dennehy, though I’d go with Dennehy who looks a little more like the guy, and much more so than he looks like Bobby Knight (whom he played in an ESPN TV movie).
*** UPDATE:
For Mike McQueary, I’d cast a newcomer to acting, former champion tennis player, Jim Courier (he’s not an actor, but I’ll bet he’d take the role):
Whom would you cast?
Tags: Brian Dennehy, casting, Casting Director, Jerry Sandusky, Jim Courier, Joe Paterno, Joe Pesci, Mike McQueary, Nick Nolte, Penn State, Penn State University, Penn State: The Movie
Your casting choices are excellent, and they not only look the parts, but Pesci and Dennehy are first-rate actors as well. Of course, any movie about Paterno touching on the Sandusky story will likely have to wait until certain legal matters are resolved, and that could take years.
Regarding Pesci, it’s unfortunate that Hollywood is very formulaic, and that leads to typecasting. Pesci obviously can play a gangster very convincingly, but he actually has a much broader acting range. One of my favorite films, My Cousin Vinny, demonstrates Pesci’s ample comedic skills, playing a lawyer who just barely passed the bar, who is defending his cousin and a friend against murder charges. The director, Jonathan Lynn does a wonderful job with a smart, briskly paced script. Incidentally, Lynn took the bold step of casting Fred Gwynne in the role of the judge, even though nobody else in Hollywood wanted to cast him because dumb Hollywood thought of Gwynne as Herman Munster. Of course, Gwynne did a wonderful job too, though Marisa Tomei took home an Oscar for her role as Pesci’s mechanically adept girlfriend.
Ralph Adamo on January 23, 2012 at 1:52 am