In the Hand of Dante: Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, and Gerard Butler to star in Julian Schnabel’s crime thriller

Last Updated on November 3, 2023

A star-studded crime thriller from Oscar-nominated director Julian Schnabel is coming our way, with Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, and Gerard Butler leading the cast. Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante film is in production in Italy, with an Interim Agreement from SAG-AFTRA to allow filming during the ongoing strike. Based on the novel of the same name by Nick Tosches, In the Hand of Dante finds a piece of history in the clutches of criminals.

According to Deadline’s exclusive report, In the Hand of Dante “revolves around when the original manuscript of the Divine Comedy emerges in the clutches of a black-market smuggling ring in the dangerous underbelly of New York City, weary scholar Nick is called by the mob to authenticate it.”

“Overwhelmed by temptation, Nick defies the mafia and steals the manuscript in a frenzied bid to have it all. He follows a dark and violent path from a metaphorical Hell into Paradise with his love Giulietta, while a parallel tale unfolds: the odyssey of Dante himself, a man who — trapped in a loveless marriage with Gemma and bolstered only by his mentorship under an austere intellectual — escapes to Sicily and creates his greatest work, immortalizing his lost love, Beatrice.”

“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.”

Schnabel (Before the Night Falls, At Eternity’s Gate, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) directs from a script he wrote based on Tosches’ novel. Sabrina Impacciatore (The White Lotus, The Last Kiss, The Passion of the Christ) and Fortunado Cerlino (Inferno, Medici, Gomorrah) also star. Jon Kilik and Francesco Melzi d’eril produce for MeMo Films, with Olmo Schnabel for TWIN Productions.

While Hollywood waits for SAG-AFTRA and studio executives to sort out the ongoing strike, select projects are getting a green light to roll cameras. In the Hand of Dante is one of the few productions to charge full steam ahead while others remain trapped in limbo. By allowing a handful of projects to continue, SAG-AFTRA is ensuring theater owners have new films to screen should the strike continue for much longer.

What do you think about the concept of Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante film? Isaac, Momoa, and Butler are quite the powerhouse cast to lead this divine crime thriller. We’ll be keeping a close watch over this one as production continues.