Al Pacino is no stranger to taking on controversial roles, and it's just as well as he seems to have set himself up to take on another. Reports are coming through from Deadline.com that the veteran actor is to take on the role of divisive American football college coach Joe Paterno.

To recap Paterno's story: The late coach - he passed away in January aged 85 - was head honcho of the Penn State Nittany Lions between 1966 and 2011. Under his tutelage, the Lions won two National championships, in 1982 and 1986, as well as completing five undefeated regular seasons and a National College of America Association record of 18 bowl victories. A hugely decorated coach with a stellar reputation, it all came crashing down last year when an Fbi investigation found out that he'd hidden information relating to acts of child sex abuse conducted by his former assistant Jerry Sandusky. The investigation also found that Paterno had urged Penn State not to report the actions of Sandusky and as a result 111 games that Paterno coached and won in between 1998 and 2011 were stripped from his record, whilst he was sacked as coach.

Deadline is reporting that ICM Partners have approached Pacino about playing the coach in a film based on his biography Paterno, which is top of The New York Times Bestseller List in its second week.