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

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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.

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022, he was a New Flesh Juror for Best First Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival. His top films for 2023 include The Zone of Interest (Glazer), Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Pham Thien An), Totem (Lila Avilés), La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher), All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson). He is a Golden Globes Voter.

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