It would seem that casting news for Young Adult Hollywood revolves around just a few hot and very in-demand names, and what a busy bunch they are! But because things change in showbiz faster than it takes them to fast track another superhero movie into production, the names on that list are changing all the time. So to that end, we here at YA Mag will undertake the hefty task of keeping you up to date each month on who’s playing what, who’s not, and who should. The roles and stars everyone can’t stop talking about are all here…
SCREAM’s Liev Schreiber is in talks to appear in the next YA novel-turned-blockbuster The 5th Wave opposite (who else) Chloë Grace Moretz. Based on the book by Rick Yancey, Chloe will play a girl who has survived four waves of alien invasions, and is now on a mission to find her abducted younger brother. Schreiber would play the film’s main villain, a military officer who has allied with the colonizing aliens. Also locked in for the film is The Bling Ring’s Maika Monroe, playing the mysteriously named character Ringer.
Casting news is in for the exciting adaptation Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a mash-up of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and some good old-fashioned zombie gore. Sam Riley of Maleficent will play Mr. Darcy, while Bella Heathcote (Dark Shadows) will portray the heroine’s sister. Lily James is already attached as Elizabeth.
Eric Bana, Theo James (Divergent) and Jack Reynor are all being considered for The Secret Scripture, based on the novel of the same name. The project tells the story of an elderly woman (Vanessa Redgrave) in a mental hospital who begins writing a memoir, but her remembrance of events is far different from reality. Rooney Mara has been cast as the younger version of her.
IN DEVELOPMENT
Disney is bringing members of the team behind Frozen to adapt Madeleine L’Engle’s groundbreaking work A Wrinkle in Time to the silver screen. Jennifer Lee, who wrote and directed Frozen and also penned Wreck It Ralph, is adapting the YA sci-fi classic.
They are planning a Bollywood version of The Fault in Our Stars. Enough said!