Daniel Zovatto to Star Opposite Anna Kendrick in True Crime Thriller “The Dating Game”

Daniel Zovatto is joining the dating pool…

The 31-year-old Costa Rican American film and television actor will co-star opposite Anna Kendrick in the true crime thriller The Dating Game, which Kendrick will also directing.

Daniel ZovattoStuart Ford’s AGC Studios is behind the film with Kendrick also producing.

Production is currently under way in Vancouver.

The script is from a Black List script by Ian MacAllister McDonald and is based on the stranger-than-fiction true story of Cheryl Bradshaw, who was a bachelorette on the hit 70s TV matchmaking show The Dating Game and chose handsome and funny bachelor number one, Rodney Alcala. But behind Alcala’s charming façade was a deadly secret: he was a psychopathic serial killer.

Best known for his breakout role in It Follows, Zovatto is coming off a starring role in the Emmy-nominated HBO limited series Station 11 opposite Himesh Patel and Mackenzie Davis.

He recently wrapped production on The Pope’s Exorcist opposite Russell Crowe.

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.

Ángel Gómez to Direct Screen Gem’s Genre Film “The Pope’s Exorcist”

Ángel Gómez is bringing the thrill to the Vatican

The 32-year-old Spanish filmmaker has been set by Screen Gems to direct The Pope’s Exorcist, a genre film that’s based on the exploits of Father Gabriele Amorth.

Ángel Gómez

He’s the legendary Italian priest who was the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican, and performed over 100,000 exorcisms for the Church.

Chester Hastings and R. Dean McCreary wrote the screenplay.

Michael Patrick Kaczmarek, Jeff Katz of Worldwide Katz and Loyola Productions president Eddie Siebert, SJ are producing. Eric Paquette, Michael Bitar and Giselle Johnson will oversee for Screen Gems.

Gómez made his directing debut on Voices and has become a leading voice of Spanish horror. The film was well received in its theatrical run in Spain and it premieres next month on Netflix.

Gomez cut his teeth directing award-winning shorts including Affection and Behind. He’s developing the latter as a feature at Lionsgate with Ghost House and Ground Control.

Screen Gems previously acquired life rights to Chief Exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth from Kaczmarek and Loyola and that includes his two international bestselling memoirs, An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories. Father Amorth, who died in 2016, left behind a trove of detailed accounts of his exploits pulling the devil out of people all over the world.

Father Amorth said relatively few of the exorcisms he performed qualified as true demonic possession, but he said his favorite film was the William Friedkin-directed The Exorcist, and that director turned the priest’s life work into the 2017 documentary The Devil and Father Amorth.