Daniel Zovatto to Star in “Famous”

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Daniel Zovatto is officially famous…

The 33-year-old Costa Rican actor has joined the cast of the Black Bear, Esmail Corp, Caviar production Famous, which A24 is releasing stateside theatrically.

Zovatto is among a list of new cast additions that includes Bill Pullman.

They join Zac Efron, Phoebe Dynevor, Nicholas Braun, Stephanie Koenig, Debby Ryan, Mekki Lepper and Cory Michael Smith.

Cameras are rolling in LA on the Jody Hill-directed film.

Famous explores the dark side of celebrity and the lengths people will go to attain it. Efron plays dual roles: Overzealous fan, Lance Dunkquist and Hollywood heartthrob, James Jansen. Lance has the spitting image of James, and will do whatever it takes to be famous.

The film is based on the novel by New York Times bestselling author Blake Crouch. Chad Hodge adapted for the screen, the scribe also adapted Crouch’s trilogy into a series.

Zovatto is coming off a haunting turn as The Dating Game serial killer Rodney Alcala in Netflix’s Woman of the Hour, Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut.

He also held a recurring role as The Prophet in the post apocalyptic series Station Eleven on HBO Max, and has featured in such cult favorite horror films as It Follows and Don’t Breathe.

Up next for Zovatto is tropical thriller Headhunters opposite Kevin Costner.

Daniel Zovatto to Star Opposite Russell Crowe in Screen Gems’ Supernatural Thriller “The Pope’s Exorcist”

Posted on July 29, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Daniel Zovatto exorcising his right to work…

The 31-year-old Argentinian-Costa Rican actor will star opposite Russell Crowe in Screen Gems’ supernatural thriller The Pope’s Exorcist.

Directed by Julius Avery, the film stars Crowe as Father Gabriele Amorth, the legendary Italian priest who performed over 100,000 exorcisms for the Vatican—drawing on his international bestselling memoirs An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories.

Father Amorth, who died in 2016, left behind a trove of additional accounts of his exploits pulling the devil out of people all over the world.

Screen Gems acquired his life rights for the project, along with rights to his memoirs.

Details on Zovatto’s role have not been disclosed.

The Pope’s Exorcist has been gestating at Screen Gems for a number of years, with Ángel Gómez having previously been attached to direct as of 2020.

Evan Spiliotopoulos wrote the current draft of the script, with revisions by Chuck MacLean, which is based on Michael Petroni-revised original drafts by Chester Hastings & R. Dean McCreary.

Zovatto can currently be seen on HBO Max’s Station Eleven and has also appeared on series like Penny Dreadful: City of Angels and Here and Now.

His other notable film credits include Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, Drake Doremus’ Newness, Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe, David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, and the late Lynn Shelton’s Laggies.

Fede Alvarez to Direct Hulu’s Original “Alien” Film

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Fede Alvarez has landed an out of this world project…

The 44-year-old Uruguayan filmmaker will write and direct an original Alien film for 20th Century Studios.

The Don’t Breathe filmmaker will direct the film for Hulu as part of studios deal to provide 10 films a year to the Disney-owned OTT service.

Alvarez’s pitch is reportedly completely separate from the previous films, according to Deadline.

Ridley Scott, who directed the 1979 original and two millennial editions, will produce through his Scott Free banner.

The new Alien film also will be distinct from Noah Hawley’s FX TV series, which network boss John Landgraf has said won’t feature Sigourney Weaver’s alien hunter Ripley.

“Alien takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story that takes place in the Alien franchise on Earth,” said Landgraf about the series. “So, it takes place on our planet. Right near the end of this century we’re in — so 70-odd years from now.”

Despite five scripts already being in for Alien, and Fargo only one, Hawley will shoot the latter series first as it needs to go into production this winter given its Midwest setting.

Fede Alvarez Agrees to Overall Deal with Legendary Pictures

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Fede Alvarez has a legendary deal…

The 41-year-oldUruguayan filmmaker, the writer and director behind Sony’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web starring Claire Foy, and his writing partner Rodolfo Sayagues have closed an overall deal with Legendary Pictures.

Under the pact, Alvarez and Sayagues will create, develop and produce films through their Bad Hombre Films banner starting with a Washington, D.C.-based horror film written by Joe Epstein, which Alvarez will direct.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the pic is described as The Shining set in the White House. Bad Hombre is also set to produce a reboot of the 1974 cult classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which will be penned by Chris Thomas Devlin.

Past projects from the duo include scripting Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe, both of which were directed by Alvarez. The former went on to gross $100m worldwide, while Don’t Breathe has a global cum of $157 million.

Sony Pictures Moving Forward with Alvarez’s “The Girl in the Spider’s Web”

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Fede Alvarez is definitely walking into a spider’s web…

Sony Pictures will move forward with The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the long-in-the-works follow-up to the studio’s 2011 pic The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, with the 39-year-old Uruguayan filmmaker still on board to direct.

Principal photography is set to begin in September with a release date scheduled for October 5, 2018.

The Don’t Breathe helmer has been aboard to direct the new pic based on the Millennium book series created by Stieg Larsson.

It will feature a whole new cast, including the role of the books’ linchpin Lisbeth Salander, played by Noomi Rapace in the original Swedish trilogy and Rooney Mara in Sony’s Dragon Tattoo directed by David Fincher.

Steven Knight, Alvarez and Jay Basu penned the script for the new movie.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web is the fourth book in the Millennium series and was written by David Lagercrantz after Larsson’s death; the fifth, also from Lagercrantz, was just launched at the London Book Fair.

Columbia Pictures president Sanford Panitch announced the new pic at the post-launch cocktail party and said Alvarez is meeting with actresses to play Salander. David Beaubaire is overseeing the project for the studio, which holds rights to the entire Millennium book series.

Columbia/Sony’s 2011 film was based on the first book in Larsson’s hot international-bestselling series centering on Salander, a tough-as-nails hacker with a steel-trap mind and a heart of gold. It was nominated for five Oscars including for Mara as Best Actress and won one for Editing. The film made $232.6 million worldwide, but a planned sequel never materialized.

Larsson died suddenly in 2004 before the books were published.

“I’m hugely excited and grateful for this opportunity,” Alvarez said in the announcement. “Sony has become family to me, and I can’t think of a more thrilling project to celebrate our relationship. Lisbeth Salander is the kind of character any director dreams of bringing to life. We’ve got a great script and now comes the most fun part — finding our Lisbeth.”

Alvarez Partners with Good Universe to Launch Content Company “Bad Hombre”

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Fede Alvarez is taking Donald Trump’s words to task…

The 38-year-old Uruguayan filmmaker, best known for directing Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe, has partnered with Good Universe to launch Bad Hombre, a new content company that will produce films across the horror, thriller and sci-fi genres.

“Bad Hombre” will ring bells for many…

During the third and final presidential debate Trump, who has favored deporting those who have arrived in the U.S. illegally, said, “We have some bad hombres here, and we’re going to get them out.”

Most recently, A White House official confirmed that Trump told Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto earlier this month that he might send U.S. troops to deal with “bad hombres down there” if the Mexican military doesn’t.

The deal marks an ongoing relationship between Good Universe and Alvarez. Good Universe co-founders Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane served as executive producers on Alvarez’s first two feature films as director — Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe via Ghost House Pictures — both of which were successful at the box office.

Evil Dead grossed $97.5M worldwide in 2013, while Don’t Breathe grossed $156.4M.

Alvarez will lead Bad Hombre creatively and has hired longtime collaborator Rodo Sayagues as an executive help build the slate of genre films.

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