It's not every day a young actor gets the chance to work alongside Anthony Hopkins.
In New Line's upcoming supernatural thriller The Rite, the Oscar winner will star as a priest at an exorcism school based at the Vatican. The story centers around his relationship with an American seminary student enrolled at the school.
So who landed the coveted student role? I'm told Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick auditioned, but...
Sadly, he didn't land the gig. The Dark Knight's Scarecrow, Irish actor Cillian Murphy, also is said to have been considered by director Mikael Håfström.
Sources tell me that little-known Irish actor Colin O'Donoghue, 29, has snagged the part. He starred in the Irish prime-time medical drama The Clinic. In the States, he has appeared on The Tudors in one episode playing Duke Philip of Bavaria.
If The Rite sounds familiar, it's because the flick is an adaptation of writer Matt Baglio's book of the same name, which is reportedly based on true events.
Hopkins was most recently seen in The Wolfman and is shooting the comic-book superhero movie Thor.
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