Giselle Johnson Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Russell Crowe (Thor: Love and Thunder) has signed on to star in Julius Avery’s film The Pope’s Exorcist for Screen Gems, Deadline can confirm.

EXCLUSIVE: Legendary Italian actor Franco Nero (Django) has been tapped to play the Pope in Screen Gems’ supernatural thriller The Pope’s Exorcist, with Laurel Marsden (Ms. Marvel), Cornell S. John (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) and newcomer Peter DeSouza-Feighoney also now set for the film from director Julius Avery. They join an ensemble led by Academy Award winner Russell Crowe, which also includes Alex Essoe and Daniel Zovatto, as previously announced.

EXCLUSIVE: Brett and Drew Pierce (The Wretched) have been tapped to write and direct the supernatural horror Room 428 for Screen Gems.

Naman Ramachandran Circle of Confusion, the talent management and production company behind “The Walking Dead,” has joined production and finance outfit Carte Blanche and Roadmap Writers’ genre screenwriting competition.Josh Dove at Circle is handling their side of the partnership alongside Kyle Stroud and Frank Ponce at Carte Blanche and Joey Tuccio and Dorian Connelley at Roadmap Writers.Carte Blanche will be greenlighting and fully financing at least one genre film. The script will have no more than five characters and five locations, and will focus on a contained, character-driven story.

EXCLUSIVE: Alex Essoe (Midnight Mass) and Daniel Zovatto (Station Eleven) will join Academy Award winner Russell Crowe in the Julius Avery-directed supernatural thriller The Pope’s Exorcist for Screen Gems.

Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose will executive produce “Two and Only,” an original screenplay by Latina and LGBTQ+ writer Jen Rivas-DeLoose (“Selena: The Series”) for Sony’s Screen Gems, according to an individual with knowledge of the project.The project will serve as a star vehicle for DeBose, who recently became the first openly queer woman of color to win an Academy Award for her portrayal of ‘Anita’ in Spielberg’s “West Side Story.”While plot details are being kept under wraps, the project is described as “My Best Friend’s Wedding” with a bisexual Latina pov, and will be overseen at Screen Gems by Scott Strauss and Giselle Johnson.Producing the project are Sad Unicorn’s Randall Einhorn and Jeremy Stern.DeBose was most recently seen in Steven Spielberg’s reimagining of “West Side Story,” for which she won the Academy Award, SAG Award, BAFTA, and Critics Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is currently in production on Sony Pictures’ “Kraven,” which is set to release January 13, 2023.

EXCLUSIVE: Ariana DeBose, who recently became the first openly queer woman of color to win an Oscar, for her portrayal of Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, will executive produce Screen Gems’ Two and Only, an original screenplay by Latina and LGBTQ+ writer Jen Rivas-DeLoose. It will be developed as a star vehicle for DeBose.

EXCLUSIVE: Kyle Stroud and Frank Ponce of production and finance outfit Carte Blanche, which has credits including Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter, are partnering with Joey Tuccio and Dorian Connelley’s Roadmap Writers to launch a genre screenwriting competition.