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

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.

Daniel ZovattoDirected 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.

Christina Aguilera to Star in the Futuristic Love Story “Zoe”

Christina Aguilera is headed back to the big screen…

The 36-year-old half-Ecuadorian American singer has joined the cast of Drake Doremus’ Zoe.

Christina Aguilera

Written by The Beauty Inside’s Rich Greenberg, the futuristic love story follows two colleagues at a revolutionary research lab who design technology to improve and perfect romantic relationships. As their work progresses, their discoveries become more profound than they could ever have imagined.

Aguilera, who made her big screen debut opposite Cher in 2010’s insta-cult classic Burlesque, will star opposite Theo JamesRashida Jones, Miranda Otto, Ewan McGregor and Lea Seydoux in the film, which starts production in Montreal next Monday.

Zoe is being financed by Stuart Ford’s IM Global with Scott Free’s Michael Pruss and Kevin Walsh producing with Doremus and Robert George.

Before breaking onto the music scene with “Genie in the Bottle,” Aguilera—a five-time Grammy winner and recurring The Voice coach—appeared on the television series Star Search and The Mickey Mouse Club.

Costa Signs with William Morris Endeavor (WME)

Laia Costa has new representation…

The 31-year-old Spanish actress  has signed with William Morris Endeavor (WME).

Laia Costa

Costa recently starred as the title character in Sebastian Schipper’s critically-acclaimed Victoria, a film almost entirely improvised by the actors and shot in one single take.

She also plays the lead in Drake Doremus’ The Newness, opposite Nicholas Hoult, which premieres at the Sundance Film Festival this week.

Previously, Costa had the lead role in the Russian film Fort Ross, directed by Yuriy Moroz and has also starred in Palm Trees in the Snow. She has worked extensively in her native country on local television shows like Cities, the Spanish remake of Brit TV series Dates, CarlosRey Emperador and Polseres Vermelles. She also stars in Matthew Brown’s upcoming title Maine and Martin Hodara’s Neive Negra.

Her performance in Victoria has earned her a Lola Award (Germany’s equivalent of an Oscar) as well as a Gaudi Award for Best Actress. She’s also been nominated for a European Film Award for Best European Actress.

Costa is one of five actors competing for the coveted 2017 BAFTA EE Rising Star Award next month, alongside actors Ruth Negga, Lucas Hedges, Tom Holland and Anya Taylor-Joy.