Just yesterday, we reported that the upcoming Carrie remake was narrowing its search for the next Sissy Spacek. After doing some group readings over the past weeks, Deadline has just reported that MGM, Screen Gems and director Kim Peirce have officially offered Chloë Moretz the leading role, while Variety updates that she intends to star by entering talks, a fact she also confirmed on Twitter.
Moretz will be playing the shy high school student Carrie White, who is raised by her religiously psychotic mother and is forced to come to terms with her telepathic powers during puberty. As most know, the film is based off Stephen King‘s 1974 best seller of the same name. As I mentioned above, Sissy Spacek led the 1976 adaptation, with Piper Laurie playing her mother — both actresses received Oscar nominations for their roles.
Among the other actresses in contention for the role were Haley Bennett, Emily Browning, Lily Collins and Dakota Fanning, but Moretz would also be my top choice for fairly obvious reasons. The only troubling matter I see with casting her in this very terrifying role is her age. Although I think she’s fully capable of handling Carrie White as a character — her role in Let Me In surely showed that — I think sometimes people forget that she’s only 15 (Keep in mind that Spacek was 27 when she took the role back in 1976).
Next up for casting is the opposing lead, her mother, as well as the various supporting roles. As of right now, Julianne Moore and Jodie Foster are in contention to play Margaret White. Stay tuned for that update, while one can next see the Kick-Ass and Hugo star in Tim Burton‘s Dark Shadows this May.
Do you think Moretz has what it takes to play Carrie?