Alessandro Nivola to play villain in Kraven the Hunter

Alessandro Nivola has been cast in the Marvel movie 'Kraven the Hunter'.

The 49-year-old actor has boarded the Sony Pictures' Marvel flick, which will feature Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the title role.

Alessandro will be playing a villain in the movie and joins a cast that includes Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe and Fred Hechinger.

J.C. Chandor is directing the movie with Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach producing. Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Richard Wenk have penned the screenplay.

Kraven is one of Marvel's most iconic and notorious villains. He has encountered Venom and Black Panther and is also one of Spider-Man's most formidable foes. The new movie featuring the character is slated for release in January 2023.

Alessandro recently starred in 'The Sopranos' prequel movie 'The Many Saints of Newark' as Dickie Moltisanti but was unaware he was the film's leading man until he met the show's creator David Chase and the director Alan Taylor.

The 'Face/Off' star said: "I mean, the funny thing was when I auditioned for the role, I didn't know. He'd only sent me five scenes from the movie. They were the five big, most climactic scenes of the film.

"Like a mime, I had to, in the privacy of my own bedroom, carry out ghoulish murders. But I didn't have the whole script. And so I didn't even realise that it was the lead of the movie when I first started taping these scenes.

"I thought the scenes were pretty good and that the character seemed pretty interesting, but I didn't really understand the stakes of the whole thing until after I'd met David and Alan."