Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight), Jason Momoa (Aquaman) and Gerard Butler (300) have joined the cast of the crime thriller In the Hand of Dante. Directed by Oscar nominee Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) and executive produced by Oscar winner Martin Scorsese (The Departed), the film was given permission by SAG-AFTRA to begin production in Italy during the actors’ strike.
Gal Gadot, another Justice League alum alongside Momoa, is also attached to the project. Gadot played Wonder Woman. Momoa played Aquaman and will be returning to the franchise this December 20th in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Nick Tosches, In the Hand of Dante tells the story of the original manuscript for the 14th-century poem The Divine Comedy landing in a black-market smuggling ring in New York City. There, a literary scholar is asked by the mob to authenticate it, but instead steals the priceless document.
The scholar’s decision to take the manuscript is supposed to reflect the same dark path that the character Dante from the poem takes when he journeys through Hell. As described by Deadline, “Nick and Dante’s timelines weave separate paths, and yet the two men are inextricably linked – both lose themselves chasing love, beauty and the very promise of the divine.”
Isaac was last seen on the screen in the title role of the Disney+ series Moon Knight in 2022. This past summer, he lent his voice to the superhero character Miguel O’Hara, AKA Spider-Man 2099, in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Other projects Oscar Isaac has been attached to include Helltown, a crime-thriller series where he would play late novelist Kurt Vonnegut, who is considered by many to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Isaac will also star in Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s version of Frankenstein.
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, In the Hand of Dante being covered here wouldn’t exist.
