HBO had “quietly picked up” movie rights to the JOE POSNANSKI book “PATERNO,” with BRIAN DE PALMA set to direct and AL PACINO in the title role, but “casting sessions on the project [have] been cancelled and other prep work put on hold,” according to Andreeva & Fleming of DEADLINE.com. An HBO rep said of the film, titled "HAPPY VALLEY," “We have suspended pre-production for a moment to deal with budget issues, but the project is still intact at HBO with the entire creative team as before” (DEADLINE.com, 9/19).
THE GOLDEN ARM: In Buffalo, Greg Connors notes JOE UNITAS, son of late Pro Football HOFer JOHNNY UNITAS, and producer CHRIS BRAUN have teamed up “in an effort to produce a movie” about the former NFLer. They “have a partnership with other producers and a screenwriter,” but what they “don’t have yet is a green light from someone willing to bankroll the making of the film.” The script for the film, dubbed “UNITAS WE STAND,” is “based on a biography” called “JOHNNY U” written by TOM CALLAHAN (BUFFALO NEWS, 9/21).
THE OTHER SIDE: SI.com’s Michael Blinn noted the documentary “RED ARMY” will be released early next year, and will "finally give us the other side of the story" some 35 years after the U.S. defeated the Soviet Union in the hockey semifinals at the ’80 Lake Placid Games. The film, “told through the eyes of former Russian captain and ex-NHLer SLAVA FETISOV, gives a glimpse into what it was like to grow up in the Soviet Republic and how hockey was an integral part of everyday life -- and what it was like to leave.” The movie, which was screened at the ’14 Cannes Film Festival, “has several glowing reviews." The movie "hears from several notable hockey names in addition to Fetisov," including Blackhawks Senior Adviser of Hockey Operations SCOTTY BOWMAN and Russian Ice Hockey Federation President VLADISLAV TRETIAK (SI.com, 9/19).
