美国国家公共电台 NPR Barry Levinson's 'Paterno' Examines A Coach's Passion, And His Complicity

 

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

Joe Paterno's fall from grace was swift, sudden and completely unexpected. In November 2011, the Penn State coach set the record for the most wins in the history of Division 1 college football. Then less than two weeks later, it all came crashing down. Former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with molesting¹ young boys. Quickly, the focus of the scandal became what Paterno knew and whether he had done enough to stop it. Those tumultuous days are depicted² in a new HBO movie, "Paterno." Paterno is played by Al Pacino.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PATERNO")

AL PACINO: (As Joe Paterno) You're badgering me. I don't like it. I got a game to prepare for. That's what's important to me now, Scott. Whatever these things are...

GREG GRUNBERG: (As Scott Paterno) People think that you knew about all of it.

PACINO: (As Joe Paterno) But I don't care what people think.

GRUNBERG: (As Scott Paterno) 2001, 1998.

PACINO: (As Joe Paterno) Ah.

GRUNBERG: (As Scott Paterno) Well, Joe Pa runs the school. How could he not know?

PACINO: (As Joe Paterno) Well, I didn't know. I don't know what they're talking about. I didn't know.

DETROW: The movie is directed by Barry Levinson, and he joins me now from our New York bureau. Thanks for coming in.

BARRY LEVINSON: Hi. How are you?

DETROW: So you've compared this story to an amazing Greek tragedy. What was it specifically that drew you to the Penn State story, the Joe Paterno story?

LEVINSON: Let's just take it this way. On one Saturday, he wins 409 games, making him the winningest coach in the history of college football. He was known as a humanitarian³ and educator. He was like the spiritual force of Penn. All of those particular things. And all of a sudden, he is enmeshed in this whole scandal that breaks open. And then that fall from grace in a two-week period I thought was a rather amazing story of a man who is revered⁴ and then sort of, like, just literally⁵ crashing to earth.

DETROW: Yeah. And then it's outside the scope of the movie. But just a couple of months later, he died. It was...

LEVINSON: Yes.

DETROW: ...Very fast. You've partnered with Al Pacino for decades. And in your HBO projects together, you've told the stories of Phil Spector, the record producer convicted of murder, Jack⁶ Kevorkian, the doctor who advocated for assisted suicide. The Hollywood Reporter put it this way - they said you guys have made a series of telefilms that could be branded as nonjudgmental portraits of notorious, middle-aged⁷ men. I wonder what you make of that portrayal⁸.

LEVINSON: (Laughter) It sounds OK in that regard. You know, you never particularly think about how all these things connect in some way. You know, they are sort of biographical pieces to, you know, to a certain degree. But it's just by happenstance that these particular films came about. I mean, the one thing that you could look to is that, you know, HBO does these type of films - these sort of humanistic pieces, which you can't do theatrically¹¹ anymore because most of the theatrical¹⁰ now basically doesn't deal much with human beings.

DETROW: What were the discussions like between you and Al Pacino when you were trying to figure out what was important to emphasize or to portray⁹ about Joe Paterno during this period?

LEVINSON: One of them, I guess, would be the fact that - you know, his obsessive¹² focus on football. At the very beginning of the movie, you know, they're saying, did you read the papers that came out? And he said, no, I got Nebraska. You know, he's constantly consumed with football at the expense of everything else. And I thought that was sort of important to start to lay that in up front in terms of how he actually functions. And then, of course, you begin to see the consequences of all that later on.

DETROW: Yeah. I want to talk about a moment toward the end of the film where there's a psychologist. And he had been working with one of Jerry Sandusky's victims. And he says hey, this shouldn't be about Joe Paterno. This should be about the victims.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PATERNO")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) I honestly don't know why anybody is talking about Joe Paterno. Somebody six months from retirement¹³ failed to see the big picture and didn't vigorously protect children? Of course you'd fire him. It's spectacularly unworthy of conversation. I'm sorry. A crime against children happened. Why the heck is anyone talking about Joe Paterno?

DETROW: What do you make of that moment? Because you put the scene in the film, but the name of the film is "Paterno."

LEVINSON: There is more than one thing in a movie. It's not doggedly¹⁴ just chasing one thing. It is more complicated than that. You see in a sense the complicity, how the administration ultimately covered things up, how they let these things slide. You see it from the standpoint of a young boy who tried to get information out, how it was ultimately, you know, covered up and the abuse that he had to face. And then there is the Joe Paterno - of a man that was revered. And how is it possible that this could happen under his nose?

DETROW: Over the last year, we've seen so many versions of this story play out in different degrees - abuse or assault being overlooked because someone was too important to an organization or just because it was inconvenient¹⁵ to deal with. Are there any lessons that you hope viewers walk away with, watching this movie in 2018?

LEVINSON: I guess you would say that, look. Voices have to be heard, and you can't just simply, you know, as they've done in the past - is just cover it up. If you take the Penn thing, and you say, all right, Sandusky had sexually molested¹⁶ a young boy, and they knew it. And if they would have addressed it at the time, it never would have become the scandal it became. We have to take and pay attention to elements that are going on and deal with it. And if you try to cover it up, you cover it up, and at some point, it explodes.

DETROW: That's director Barry Levinson. His new movie is "Paterno". It premieres tonight on HBO. Thank you so much.

LEVINSON: Thank you.

1 molesting   

v.骚扰( molest的现在分词 )；干扰；调戏；猥亵

参考例句：

• He was accused of sexually molesting a female colleague. 他被指控对一位女同事进行性骚扰。 来自辞典例句
• He was charged with molesting a woman. 他被指控调戏妇女。 来自辞典例句

2 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

8 portrayal   

n.饰演；描画

参考例句：

• His novel is a vivid portrayal of life in a mining community.他的小说生动地描绘了矿区的生活。
• The portrayal of the characters in the novel is lifelike.该书中的人物写得有血有肉。

9 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

10 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

11 theatrically   

adv.戏剧化地

参考例句：

• He looked theatrically at his watch. 他夸张地看看表。 来自柯林斯例句

12 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。

13 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

14 doggedly   

adv.顽强地，固执地

参考例句：

• He was still doggedly pursuing his studies.他仍然顽强地进行着自己的研究。
• He trudged doggedly on until he reached the flat.他顽强地、步履艰难地走着，一直走回了公寓。

15 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

16 molested   

v.骚扰( molest的过去式和过去分词 )；干扰；调戏；猥亵

参考例句：

• The bigger children in the neighborhood molested the younger ones. 邻居家的大孩子欺负小孩子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He molested children and was sent to jail. 他猥亵儿童，进了监狱。 来自《简明英汉词典》