CHICAGO – With the casting rumors debunked [1] about “High School Musical [2]” star Vanessa Hudgens [3] potentially appearing in “Twilight [4]” sequel “New Moon [5],” another hot casting scoop just sprouted up. The 14-year-old (hey, she’s almost 15) child star Dakota Fanning [6] is in negotiations to play Jane opposite Robert Pattinson [7] and friends in “New Moon”.
Image credit: Paramount Pictures
The news began circulating minutes ago following an exclusive report [8] from Marc Malkin of E! Online. He cited anonymous sources. His report states:
“There were no auditions,” a source reveals. “They just offered it to [Dakota Fanning] outright and now they’re in negotiations. They’ve been going back and forth.”
Jane is a member of Italy’s Volturi: the most deadly group of bloodsucking killers in author Stephenie Meyer [9]’s best-selling series. In [a] casting notice [10] … [that surfaced in early Jan. 2009], Jane is described as a petite blonde with a “Botticelli angel-like face … [and] crimson irises”.
While fellow Volturi guards Demetri and Felix “are three times the size of her, they are terrified of her,” the casting notice reads.
Despite visceral reactions to the concept of Vanessa Hudgens appearing in “New Moon,” many readers of the Meyer books and watchers of the first “Twilight” film feel that Fanning would fit in the second film like a glass slipper. A fan-created online petition [11] has been started to endorse Fanning’s inclusion in “New Moon,” which is directed by Chris Weitz [12].
“Pushing Daisies” star Kristin Chenoweth has also been suggested by Entertainment Weekly for the role. As the studio did with Taylor Lautner [13], will Summit Entertainment give fans what they want yet again? So far, “New Moon” has confirmed Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart [14], Ashley Greene [Array], Nikki Reed [15], Jackson Rathbone [16], Kellan Lutz and Taylor Lautner to be in the film.
Read our Vanessa Hudgens role denial story for “New Moon”. [17]Read our Robert Pattinson story on “Parts Per Billion” and “New Moon”. [18]See our 2009 Summit release slideshow with “New Moon”. [19]See our high-quality, 28-image “Twilight” slideshow. [20]Read our “Twilight” opening-weekend box-office story. [21]Read our “Twilight” sequel story prior to opening weekend. [22]Read our story about Taylor Lautner’s casting in “New Moon”. [23] [24] | By ADAM FENDELMAN [25] |