Euro Gang Strikes Film & TV Deal With ‘Those About To Die’ Co-Director Marco Kreuzpaintner; Genre Slate Includes Charles Dickens Thriller & Possessed Pope Series

EXCLUSIVE: Euro Gang Entertainment, the company founded by Gianni Nunnari (300) and Simon Horsman (Legacy: The True Story Of The LA Lakers), has entered into a three picture and series deal with German writer-director Marco Kreuzpaintner who most recently co-directed with Roland Emmerich the big-budget 10-part gladiator series, Those About to Die, with Anthony Hopkins.

Alongside Euro Gang, Kreuzpaintner will produce and direct Drood, a series based on the book of the same name by U.S. author Dan Simmons (The Terror). The story revolves around a sinister and mysterious hunt through Victorian London’s perilous underground for a murderous specter, led by none other than Charles Dickens, and his best friend and fellow author, Wilkie Collins.

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The second project, Black Vatican, is a contemporary horror series based on an original story by Andrea Nobile and Maurizio Curcio. Kreuzpaintner will direct the pilot penned by Alex Child, where the Pope, possessed by Satan, seeks to undermine the Catholic Church from the inside, opposed by a renegade holy man with a complicated past. Italian production company Alfred Film is a co-producer.

Warner Music Entertainment will be developing Drood and Black Vatican with Euro Gang.

Lastly, Kreuzpaintner will helm and co-write alongside British playwright James Fritz, The Flea, a feature film adaptation of Fritz’s play about the Cleveland Street Scandal (the discovery of a homosexual brothel in 1889 London) that shook the foundation of British society.

Currently in post-production, Those About to Die was produced by Nunnari, Centropolis Entertainment, High End Productions, Street Entertainment, and AGC Studios and will be released in the U.S. later this year by Peacock, and internationally by Prime Video, among others.

Previously, Kreuzpaintner directed the first four episodes and executive-produced the Netflix series Bodies and directed and executive-produced Bafta winning series The Lazarus Project. He was a writer on 2015 German box office smash Look Who’s Back.

Kreuzpaintner stated: “I am thrilled to be working with my friends at Euro Gang. Gianni and Simon have created a real home for filmmakers who want to go the extra mile. This will be a hub for people determined to create state-of-the-art, commercial entertainment. And we are all grateful to Warner Music Entertainment for supporting these amazing projects.”

Horsman added: “Marco is an incredible creative collaborator and director. The fact that Euro Gang is so keen to partner with Marco on three projects off the back of launching our new company says it all.”

Euro Gang was advised on all three projects by Hannah Wylie and Caitlin McGivern of Harbottle & Lewis.

Kreuzpaintner and Alex Child are represented by Independent Talent Group. James Fritz is represented by Berlin Associates and Dan Simmons is represented by Circle of Confusion and Richard Curtis Associates.

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