casting

We Hear the Top Candidates for the Carrie Remake Are …

We hope they finally got the stains out of Sissy Spacek’s gown. Photo: United Artists

Warm up the bucket of pig blood — we’re getting closer to finding us a Carrie! A gaggle of actresses have been reading for the lead role in Kimberly Peirce’s adaptation of Stephen King’s book (which will reportedly hew closer to the source than Brian DePalma’s 1976 horror classic), and now we’re told the field has narrowed to two main contenders: the 15-year-old Chloë Moretz (Kick-Ass) and the 24-year-old Haley Bennett, who is starring with Ryan Gosling in Terrence Malick’s next project, Lawless.

These two sit at the top of a list of candidates that has included such young up-and-comers as Dakota Fanning (all growed up and, lately, a Volturi in Twilight), Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Bella Heathcote (In Time), and Lily Collins (Mirror Mirror), who have all read for Peirce. We also hear that earlier this week, The Descendants’ Shailene Woodley passed on an offer from MGM to take the title role.

Meanwhile, we’re also told that for the role of Carrie’s unhinged fundamentalist mother, Peirce has approached Jodie Foster and is interested in Julianne Moore. It’s not so strange to aim for past Oscar winners for a horror flick: After all, both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie (who played her mom) got nominated for the film.

We Hear the Top Candidates for the Carrie Remake Are …