Movies
Casey Affleck Cast as Gabriel the Angel in ‘Paradise Lost’
*Update: Camilla Belle (When a Stranger Calls) is the choice for the lead role of Eve in the film, says Deadline.
Strong casting continues as The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford and The Killer Inside Me‘s Casey Affleck is joining the fight for good, as he’s in negotiations to play the angel Gabriel in Legendary Pictures’ Paradise Lost, says Variety.
Alex Proyas (The Crow) is directing the heavenly epic, which is a big-budget adaptation of John Milton’s 17th Century poem. Bradley Cooper and Ben Walker star as warring archangels Lucifer and Michael, while Djimon Hounsou co-stars as Abdiel, the angel of death. Rufus Sewell, who starred in Proyas’ underrated Dark City, also stars.
A six-winged angel, Gabriel was created by God to serve as a messenger.
Stuart Hazeldine developed the primary draft of the screenplay, originally written by Byron Willinger and Philip de Blasi. Lawrence Kasdan provided a polish as well as Ryan Condal, who delivered the most recent draft. Project will fall under Legendary’s overall agreement with Warner Bros.
Fangoria Studios and Panick Studios are turning horror comic Black Diamond into a film, and Variety reports that Ernest Dickerson (Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight) will direct.
Black Diamond comic book creator Brendan Columbus will write the screenplay.
Black Diamond follows Owen and Victoria Welch on a family ski trip that spirals into a nightmare. When their son is abducted by a mysterious cult, the couple is pushed to the brink and faced with a soul-crushing ultimatum: sacrifice another child or lose their own forever.
The comic book series from Panick Entertainment is described as a “chilling folk horror thriller blending Hitchcockian psychological tension with the dread of The Wicker Man.”
“Black Diamond was my attempt to put everything I love about thrillers on the page,” Columbus tells Variety. “I want to make sure it feels like you physically can’t leave the theater or else you’ll miss the next twist or turn. With his masterful cinematic eye and his great story sense, Ernest is going to scare the hell out of everyone with this one.”
“Black Diamond immediately grabbed me because its horror is rooted in impossible human choices,” says Dickerson. “It taps into parental fear, morality, isolation, and survival in a way that is so unsettling and emotionally real. That combination will make for a very suspenseful and exciting cinematic experience.”
Ernest Dickerson is directing and executive producing the feature film. Black Diamond will notably be Ernest Dickerson’s first feature film as director since Double Play in 2017, though he has in more recent years been directing for an impressive string of television shows including “The Man in the High Castle,” “The Purge,” “Raised by Wolves,” “Bosch,” and “DMZ.”
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