Gossip Teen

Imagine Little Red Riding Hood: a young woman walking through the hushed snowy woods wearing a bright red cape, she hears every sound and imagines the worst; looking over her shoulder terrified by what is out there, following her. A story more for grown-ups than for children, the photo above sets the mood for the new telling of a very old tale.

Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke is taking on the classic Brothers Grimm folktale and giving it a gothic/horror twist with werewolves, demons and Amanda Seyfried as Valerie, the title character, torn between two suitors. Hardwicke gives Seyfried lots of praise:

”I’ve never seen her like this in a role before,” raves director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight). ”She’s supersexy, wild. And those big eyes of hers are totally out of a fairy tale.”

I love this image – can’t wait for more. I am very excited to see what kind of energy and pulse this cast create: Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Lukas Haas and the almost Edward Cullen: Shiloh Fernandez.

The movie, now titled Red Riding Hood (it was originally The Girl with the Red Riding Hood) is set for March 2011 release.

[image: EW]

Author Cassandra Clare’s book City of Bones will (finally!) be made into a movie. The first in the teen sci-fi/fantasy series The Mortal Instruments, has a script and should start casting fairly soon. Here is the official announcement:

Screen Gems has teamed with Constantin Film and Unique Features to develop the motion picture franchise MORTAL INSTRUMENTS based on The New York Times Bestselling book series The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare.  Jessica Postigo penned the script which is based on the first book in the series, City of Bones.  Constantin Film’s head of Film & TV Martin Moszkowicz will executive produce and Robert Kulzer will produce the project via the Constantin Film banner along with producing partners Michael Lynne, Robert Shaye, and executive producer Dylan Sellers via their Unique Features banner.

In City of Bones, set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager Clary Fray, discovers she is the descendent of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of warriors dedicated to driving demons out of our world.  When Clary’s mother disappears, she must join a daring group of young Shadowhunters on an adventure, which leads her through a city filled with mischievous fairies, eccentric warlocks, werewolf gangs and other strange creatures.

I loved the books and hope that they get a great director who can pull it off.

Now for the fun part: Who do you want as Clary, Jace, Simon, Alec and Isabelle? Everyone wants Alex Pettyfer for Jace but I think with his parts in both Beastly and I Am Number Four he would be unlikey to take a role in another sci-fi movie. I’d like to see Bonnie Wright for Clary. Any thoughts?

Ok, let’s have a bit of a television moment here. ABC’s Dancing With The Stars is coming back in September with it’s largest cast ever and I thought we’d have a little fun here on GossipTeen: Which favorite teen stars would I chose if I could cast this show? Who would be the most interesting to watch weekly? Before I reveal the “sweet 16″ I selected, I eliminated Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Taylor Swift and Dakota Fanning. They were all easy choices and while everyone would want them, there is no way they would do it. Even though it’s fantasy, I wanted it to have some basis in how the contestants are really chosen for the show. It would be like asking George Clooney or Angelina Jolie to do the regular version: it would make for great television but it’s never gonna happen.

So let’s lay a bit of groundwork; some rules, so to speak:

First: Everyone is under 25, that should be obvious.

Second: I selected an equal mix of guys and gals.

Third: Like the original show, I added in athletes and musicians as well as actors.

Fourth: I did limit the amount of ‘Twilight’ kids.

Fifth: It’s subjective of course but I tried to get an interesting array of young celebs who would be fun to watch.

So there you have it – Part One is up after the jump. Come back later this week for Parts Two, Three and Four.

Read more »