Actor Omar Chaparro has joined Ryan Reynolds, Ken Watanabe, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Bill Nighy, Chris Geere, Rita Ora and Suki Waterhouse in Detective Pikachu, the first live-action film based on the Pokémon franchise from Legendary and Universal Pictures. Rob Letterman is at the helm from a script he co-wrote with Nicole Perlman with polishes by Eric Pearson and Tom McCarthy. It will focus on Detective Pikachu as a new character and storyline in the Pokémon universe. Mary Parent and Cale Boyter will produce for Legendary, alongside Joe Caracciolo, Jr. and Pokémon’s Tsunekazu Ishihara executive producing. Universal Pictures will handle distribution. Chaparro, whose credits include Michael Berry’s film Stuck and the upcoming Overboard remake with Eugenio Derbez and Anna Faris, is repped by Talent On The Road, UTA, and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown.
Jeremy Sumpter (Friday Night Lights) and Tom Berenger (Platoon, Inception) have been tapped to star in the indie crime thriller Sargasso, written and directed by Adam Sigal, former Los Angeles private investigator-turned-filmmaker. The pic, the first for newly founded production companies, Dynasty Pictures and Wildfire Pictures, follows Raymond Brey (Sumpter), a young private investigator, and Joe Smith (Berenger), a veteran P.I. and Ray’s mentor. Decades watching people lie, cheat and steal from one another has left Joe a broken shell of a man and when his attitude begins to infect Ray, danger and heartbreak are inevitable. Odyssey Motion Pictures is handling global sales. Producers are Andrew Vogel, Zac Weinstein, Marc Clebanoff, Carol Anne Watts, and Siena Oberman.
Scott Deckert (XOXO) is part of the cast of Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man supervillain spinoff, Venom, which has Tom Hardy starring in the title role along with Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, and Reid Scott. Ruben Fleischer directs from a script by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Amy Pascal are producers on the pic, which will bow in theaters October 5. Deckert is repped by Silver Mass Entertainment and People Store.
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