Barnz moves from ‘Wonderland’ to Beauty and the ‘Beastly’

The name of Daniel Barnz may soon become synonymous with contemporary adaptations of traditional fairy tales. His previous effort (which gets released on March 6th by Thinkfilm) borrowed from Alice in Wonderland, and now CBS Films are asking the filmmaker to both write and direct a project that takes from a Beauty and the Beast template and reconfigures it into a possible Twilight-like film.

Beastly is based on Alex Flinn‘s young-adult novel of the same name, the high school fable centers on a popular but arrogant teenage boy who is turned into a monster by a witch in his class and must find true love to break the curse.

Since producers “are seeking a young heartthrob to play the lead role”, a bankable young talented male actor will ned to be considered for the role. I’m not sure who young female tweens are into these days apart from the Twilight and Harry Potter kids – but perhaps Zac Efron‘s agent should look at a schedule opening.  

Susan Cartsonis will produce, and Roz Wesiberg will co-produce.