'Scream 4' Actor Eyeing Villain Role in 'Odd Thomas' (Exclusive)

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Nico Tortorella, who is one of the key players in the class of 2011 actors in Scream 4, is in negotiations to nab the villain role in Odd Thomas, Stephen Sommers' adaptation of the Dean Koontz book series.

Fusion Films' John Baldecchi and Howard Kaplan are producing with Sommers, who wrote the screenplay and is directing.

The story centers on a short-order cook named Odd Thomas (played by Anton Yelchin) who can commune with the dead, a secret only his girlfriend (Addison Timlin) and the local police (Willem Dafoe) chief know.

The young man can also spot malevolent forces called bodachs, who feed on pain and portent imminent death. When Odd sees them in spades surrounding a stranger, he finds himself in a race against time to avert a catastrophe.

Tortorella will play an officer working under Dafoe, secretly a member of a Satanic cult bent on destroying the town.

The movie, with a budget in the $20-30 million range, is due to shoot in New Mexico later this spring and summer.

In Scream 4, Tortorella, repped by Gersh, plays Emma Roberts' ex-boyfriend who mysteriously pops up at convenient times during the movie.

His other credits include Twelve, directed by Joel Schumacher, and ABC Family's Make It of Break It.