MGM is busy mining its back catalogue for properties to remake and one it’s keen on giving a do-over is Stephen King’s Carrie, with Boys Don’t Cry helmer Kimberly Peirce attached to direct. Now the director and studio are closing in on a young actress for the lead role, with Vulture reporting that Chloe Moretz and Haley Bennett (who’s little known now but will be seen alongside Ryan Gosling in Terrence Malick’s Lawless) are the top contenders.
It is rather odd that the top candidates for a role like this are so far apart in age, as Chloe Moretz is 15-years-old and Haley Bennett is 24. Other actresses such as Dakota Fanning, Emily Browning, Bella Heathcote and Lily Collins have read for Carrie, while The Descendants star Shailene Woodley was reportedly offered the title role outright, but she passed. It now appears it’s down to Moretz and Bennett though.
Kimberly Peirce has also shown interest in Jodie Foster and Julianne Moore to play Carrie’s crazed mother, although it doesn’t seem any offers have been made yet. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is writing the script, which will reportedly stay more faithful to author Stephen King’s original novel. It isn’t known when production may begin on Carrie, but it’s a bit of a priority for MGM.