Posted on Tuesday, 21st June 2011 by Aidan Bayly
Courtney
EXCLUSIVE: “Super 8″ star Joel Courtney got more adventure than he bargained for in J.J. Abrams’ monster movie and now he’s hungry for more, as the 15-year-old thesp has entered negotiations for two indies, “Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn” and “The Healer.”
Jo Kastner is writing and directing the adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic tale, which will find Courtney playing Tom Sawyer, a mischievous troublemaker in search of endless adventures in 1850s Missouri. Kastner and Marcus Weinhart are producing the pic, which is scheduled to shoot this August in Bulgaria. After that, Courtney will segue to “The Healer,” which Giorgio Serafini (“Game of Death”) is writing and directing. Story follows an ailing father who takes his two teenage kids into the woods to renew the bond they shared before a divorce. The trio are soon swept into a supernatural adventure in a haunted forest. Courtney will play a rebellious youth who has grown up resenting his father. Just as he begins to warm up to his estranged dad, an apparent tragedy threatens to separate them forever and he’s left trapped in limbo between the living world and the afterlife. Susan Johnson and Giuseppe Pedersoli are producing “The Healer,” which is skedded to start production this September in North Carolina. Courtney had zero acting credits when he auditioned for “Super 8″ last summer while visiting his brother in Los Angeles. He hoped to take a few acting classes and possibly get a part in a commercial, but became involved in a supersecret casting process in which hundreds of kids were told they were trying out for a small indie that Abrams was producing called “Little Darlings.” Only later would they find that they’d been set for Abrams’ major summer tentpole, and one that showcased the ensemble chemistry of its six young, inexperienced thesps. He since signed with WME, and now the unknown kid from Idaho will portray one of the most iconic characters in American fiction.
Tags: Star, Star Todays
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