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WIRE Buzz: Adam Sandler blasting off for 'Spaceman of Bohemia'; rare Black Panther comic; The Pope's Exorcist
Adam Sandler's partnership with Netflix will continue in The Spaceman From Bohemia. According to a report by Deadline, the sci-fi project has tapped Chernobyl's Johan Renck to direct the adaptation of Jaroslav Kalfar's 2017 novel of the same name. Sandler is set to play an astronaut stationed at the edge of the galaxy.
His mission is "collect mysterious ancient dust," reads the synopsis. "He soon finds his earthly life falling to pieces and he turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together. It just so happens to belong to a creature from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship."
The script was penned by Colby Day, a writer/director/producer known for several shorts. Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin, Peter Kiernan, Michael Parets, Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Max Silva, Ben Ormand, and Renck and Barry Bernardi are all attached as producers.
"As we prepare for our voyage to Chopra, I couldn’t be more pleased to have found the perfect partner in Adam,” Renck said in a statement to Deadline. “And now, with the support of the brilliant Netflix family, I am profoundly excited to set off on our impossible journey."
Per NPR's review of the novel, "Chopra" is the name given to the strange cloud of cosmic dust. The outlet concluded that "the story, like its protagonist, flies along weightlessly. A book like this lives and dies on the strength of its first-person voice, and in that regard, Kalfar triumphs."
A rare Black Panther first issue comic book signed by director Ryan Coogler and the late Chadwick Boseman and Stan Lee is going up for auction this Thursday (Oct. 29) from Nate D. Sanders Auctions. Per the release, "the comic is the Middle East-Comic Con variant and is graded 9.8 by CGC Signature Series." The bidding will begin at $8,000.
"Chadwick Boseman achieved international fame as Black Panther. Collectors were greatly saddened by his untimely death and relish a rare opportunity to own Boseman's signature on a Black Panther Comic #1," the auction house said in a statement to SYFY WIRE.
Check it out below:
Most interestingly, Boseman, who passed away in August, included the number "42" next to his name, most likely a reference to Dodgers player Jackie Robinson, whom the actor portrayed in the movie 42. Lee, who co-created the Black Panther character with Jack Kirby in the 1960s, passed away in November 2018 at the age of 95. Coogler directed Marvel Studios' Black Panther feature film, which took home over $1 billion at the global box office and won three Oscars. The filmmaker is returning to write and direct the sequel, whose future remains uncertain following Boseman's death.
More info on the comic book auction can be found here.
And finally, The Pope's Exorcist — a film based on the life of Father Gabriele Amorth — has given its blessing to Spanish director Ángel Gómez, Deadline confirms. Chester Hastings and R. Dean McCreary wrote the screenplay.
Sony Screen Gems acquired the screen rights to Amorth's story in May of 2018 in the hopes of launching a potential franchise. Prior to his death in 2016, the Italian priest had performed over 100,000 exorcisms as the Vatican's chief demon buster. William Friedkin (famed director of 1973's The Exorcist) made a documentary about Amorth — The Devil and Father Amorth — in 2017.
Mostly known for short films, Gómez (who is credited as Ángel Gómez Hernández on IMDb) made his feature-length debut this year with Voces.
