The romantic drama Beautiful Creatures tells the story of 17-year-old Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich), whose world is shaken up with the arrival of Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), the niece of Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons), the reclusive owner of gothic Ravenwood Manor.  Immediately drawn to each other, it becomes apparent that Lena is a Caster with powers beyond her control, and the two are faced with a curse that will claim her for either the Light or the Dark on her 16^th birthday.

At the film’s press day, writer/director Richard LaGravenese spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how this project came his way, his process for deciding which aspects of the book to keep and which to change or cut, the adjustments he made once the actors were in place, how challenging the visual effects process was in post-production, that he’ll included a behind the scenes feature for the scoring process on the DVD, and the deleted scenes.  He also talked about what it was like to see Michael Douglas and Matt Damon bring his script for Behind the Candelabra to life for director Steven Soderbergh and how proud he is of the finished product, along with his desire to do a film version of the off-Broadway musical The Last Five Years, which Anna Kendrick has signed on for.  Check out what he had to say after the jump. 

Three new clips are now available from Richard LaGravenese’s Beautiful Creatures, the Southern Gothic supernatural romance story adapted from the best-selling books of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  Two of these clips do a nice job at establishing the budding relationship between Lena (Alice Englert) and Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich), as well as stirring up the fanbase.  The third clip features Ridley Duchannes (Emmy Rossum) flaunting a barely-there dress, bringing a little something for two “lucky boys.”

Also starring Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson and Thomas Mann, Beautiful Creatures opens February 14th.  Hit the jump to watch the clips (fair warning: they’re on auto-play).

A host of new images from director Richard LaGravenese’s supernatural love story adaptation Beautiful Creatures reveal great looks at stars Alice Englert and Alden Ehrenreich.  While the movie may draw comparisons to The Twilight Saga, one thing that stands apart is the amazing costume design for Beautiful Creatures, which really puts an emphasis on Southern Gothic.

Also starring Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson and Thomas Mann, Beautiful Creatures opens February 14th.  Hit the jump to check out the new images.

New posters have popped up online today for Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain and Richard LaGravenese’s Beautiful Creatures. Pain and Gain, based on a true story, stars Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg as two weightlifters who get involved with a kidnapping and extortion scheme that goes horribly wrong. Also starring Ed Harris, Anthony Mackie, Ken Jeong, Tony Shalhoub, Rebel Wilson and Rob Corddry, Pain and Gain opens on April 26, 2013.

Two new character posters have popped up for Beautiful Creatures stars Jeremy Irons and Zoey Deutch. Adapted from the Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl novel, Beautiful Creatures stars Alice Englert and Alden Ehrenreich as two star-crossed lovers caught up in supernatural events transpiring in their small town. The film opens February 13, 2013. Hit the jump to check out all the posters.

Stepping out of the van, the heat hits all of us at the same time, and before we’ve even made it halfway up the dirt pathway—to where a sprawling, vine-covered Gothic mansion is quietly redefining the word “imposing”—every one of us is starting to sweat. The person guiding us to our destination points, and we all look around a corner to see what appears to be a checkered ballroom set into the center of a topiary garden. Dozens of elaborately-costumed actors and actresses are milling about: some have foot-tall, brightly-colored hairdos, others have their faces covered in intricate makeup jobs, and all of them must be dying in this swampy heat. Just as we’re starting to make sense of what it is we’re looking at, Jeremy Irons walks by holding a Styrofoam cup of coffee and nods a “Hello” at us.

Earlier this year, I was invited out to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Warner Bros. and director Richard LaGravenese were bringing the YA novel Beautiful Creatures to life. To say the visit was surreal doesn’t quite do it justice, but I’ll give it a shot. Meet me after the jump to find out what I learned on the Beautiful Creatures set…and why Warner Bros. might have the next, big Twilight-sized YA hit on their hands.

We’ve got a couple casting stories for you in one handy article.  First up, Hugh Grant is set to reunite with director Mark Lawrence for a fourth time for yet an another romantic comedy. The untitled picture, written by Lawrence, has Grant playing a broke, washed-up Oscar-winning screenwriter who is forced to teach at a small East Coast college.  While he expects to win the favor of his attractive co-ed pupils, he ends up falling for a single mom who has gone back to school.  The lead here sounds awfully similar to Grant’s character in Music and Lyrics (also written and directed by Lawrence), but since I find that movie surprisingly charming, I hope that this untitled picture will be better than Grant/Lawrence’s other efforts, Two Weeks Notice and Did You Hear about the Morgans?

Grant will next be seen playing six roles in Cloud Atlas, which opens on Friday and you should totally go see.  Hit the jump for some Anna Kendrick casting news.

Even though the trailer for Richard LaGravenese‘ Beautiful Creatures is online, I decided to go into the New York Comic-Con panel cold.  This approach worked well for The Conjuring, and I’m always ready to be pleasantly surprised by a film.  LaGravenese’s film certainly has a cast worthy of our attention: Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, Jeremy Irons, and Emmy Rossum star alongside up-and-coming lead actors Alice Englert and Alden Ehrenreich.  But as for what the movie is about, that’s a bit harder to explain.

Hit the jump for my recap of the Beautiful Creatures panel, and click here for all of our New York Comic-Con coverage.

If you enjoyed the recent images and trailer for director Richard LaGravenese’s Beautiful Creatures, but found yourself a bit lost in the story, you’re in luck, because a new featurette is here to explain it all to you.  Based on the trilogy by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the story centers on two star-crossed teens who uncover some unsettling secrets about their families, themselves and the small southern town in which they live.  The featurette shows that the adaptation is more than just “Romeo & Juliet meets Twilight meets True Blood.”

Starring Alice Englert, Alden Ehrenreich, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis,  Beautiful Creatures graces theaters on February 13th, 2013.  Hit the jump to watch the featurette.

The first trailer and poster for director Richard LaGrevenese’s Beautiful Creatures have landed online.  Based on the three-book series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the story centers on two mystically charged teens who are mysteriously drawn to one another despite never having met, and uncover some unsettling secrets about their families and the small southern town in which they live.  I’m unfamiliar with the book series and found myself a bit lost when watching the teaser, but I dig the atmosphere and Southern Gothic aesthetic.  Moreover, watching Emma Thompson play a disapproving, devoutly religious Southern woman is a delight.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, poster, and a batch of images, and be sure to take a peek at our set visit preview right here.  The film also stars Alice Englert, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis.  Beautiful Creatures hits theaters on February 13th, 2013.  

A few months ago, I was given the opportunity to travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for a visit to the set of Richard LaGravenese’s forthcoming supernatural-romance, Beautiful Creatures.  Now, while the title might not mean much to you if you’re say, a late-20’s male with little to no involvement with the Young Adult section of your local Barnes and Nobel, that name means a whole bunch to a whole bunch of non-late-20’s males:  Beautiful Creatures—which involves teenage girls, witches, stately manors on the edge of swamps, and Jeremy Irons—might just be the heir to the Twilight throne.

And with the potential for another franchise like that on their hands, it’s easy to understand why the studio would agree to let us start talking about our set visit now:  sure, it doesn’t arrive until February of 2013, but why not tell you a little bit about the cool stuff we saw on-set?  Find out what I saw there, who we interviewed, and see some pictures from Beautiful Creatures after the jump, folks. 

You’re driving down the street, and it’s suddenly blocked off.  You notice these weird yellow signs with nonsensical letters or numbers.  There’s unusual glow lighting up a neighborhood you can’t usually see from your house.  What you might have here is a film company shooting in your town.  It happens a lot, and you never know where they might pop up…until now.

The following is a semi-comprehensive list of films currently shooting, what they’re shooting, and where they’re shooting.  We’ll be telling you where you might get to see the very famous, the kinda famous and (if all goes well) the soon-to-be famous. While we can’t list every single movie, television show, or student film in production, you’ll get a pretty good idea of what the heck is going on where all those people are buzzing about.  Want to know where in the world are Matt Damon, Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Woody Harrelson, and Leonardo DiCaprio? Hit the jump for more.

We’ve got some shuffling of release dates for two Warner Bros. distributions and a new release date for one of our favorite films from this year’s Sundance.  Here’s a glance:

• Warner Bros. pushes back The Seventh Son from February 15th, 2013 to October 18th, 2013.
• Another Warner Bros. film, Beautiful Creatures, has taken Seventh Son’s place by moving back two weeks to open on February 15th, 2013.
• Starring Frank Langella, James Marsden, Liv Tyler, Susan Sarandon and a robot (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard), Robot and Frank will open on August 24th of this year.

Hit the jump for more on each film.

Two-time Oscar-winner Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) is the latest to join Beautiful Creatures, a supernatural love story based on the first novel in a best-selling series. Thompson will join Academy Award-nominee Viola Davis (The Help), as well as Jack O’Connell (Eden Lake) and newcomer Alice Englert. Richard LaGravenese (P.S. I Love You) will direct the adaptation from the stories written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

In other casting news, Jenna Fischer (The Office) and Rita Wilson (Sleepless in Seattle) have joined the indie drama, Kiss Me, directed by Jeff Probst (“Survivor”). The coming-of-age tale follows a teen with scoliosis as she navigates adolescent relationships. Hit the jump for more on both projects.

It’s a good day to be a cast member of The Help. We’ve already reported a couple of high-profile casting stories regarding Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain, and now the third Oscar-nominated actress from The Help has booked not one, but two new gigs. Best Actress nominee Viola Davis is set as the lead in Beautiful Creatures, and will take a supporting role in Ender’s Game. Directed by Richard LaGravenese (P.S. I Love You), the film is an adaptation of the novel by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia and centers on two star-crossed teens who uncover dark secrets about their families, their history and their town. Davis will play a seer who looks after the boy and his father after the boy’s death. Beautiful Creatures is the first in a series of novels, and Warner Bros. is hoping that the film will kick off a franchise.

Hit the jump for more, including the addition of Davis to the increasingly impressive ensemble for Ender’s Game.

Universal Pictures has hired Richard LaGravenese (P.S. I Love You) to adapt the Laura Hillenbrand bestseller Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.  Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) is attached to direct, and last we checked, Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) was in talks to write the script.  Deadline’s report doesn’t mention how it went down, but Lawrence and LaGravenese have established a prior working relationship: they teamed for the adaptation of Water for Elephants, which hits theaters April 22.

Unbroken tells the story of Louis Zamperini, a former Olympian and WWII bombadier whose plane crashed at sea in 1943.  Zamperini and two crewmates floated adrift for 47 days and 2000 miles — he was caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a POW camp where he was specifically targeted by a sadistic overseer.  Read the full book synopsis after the break: