After helping Nicolas Winding Refn skewer Hollywood in The Neon Demon, Elle Fanning finds herself in the thick of the awards season with 20th Century Women and Ben Affleck's Live by Night. While she already has at least four movies coming next year, there's still room to add one more. Fanning will star in Beware that Girl, a thriller based on the YA novel from author Teresa Toten.
Toten's book, which as been compared to Gone Girl and The Girl On the Train, takes place in a New York prep school where an outsider named Kate lies her way into the social elite, only to find it comes with dire consequences when a charming new administrator arrives. Here's a synopsis for the book:
The Haves. The Have-Nots. Kate O’Brien appears to be a Have-Not. Her whole life has been a series of setbacks she’s had to snake her way out of — some more sinister than others. But she’s determined to change all that. She’s book-smart. She’s street-smart. And she’s also a masterful liar. As the scholarship student at the elite Waverly School in NYC, Kate has her work cut out for her: her plan is to climb the social ranks and land a spot at Yale. She’s already found her “people” among the senior-class “it” girls — specifically in the cosseted, mega-wealthy yet deeply damaged Olivia Sumner. As for Olivia, she considers Kate the best friend she’s always needed, the sister she never had.
When the handsome and whip-smart Mark Redkin joins the Waverly administration as head of fund-raising, he immediately charms his way into the faculty’s and students’ lives, becoming especially close to Olivia, a fact she’s intent on keeping to herself. It becomes increasingly obvious that Redkin poses a threat to Kate, too, in a way she can’t reveal — and can’t afford to ignore. Mark has his own plan for a bright future and never doubts that he can pull it off. How close can Kate and Olivia get to him without having to share their dark pasts?
This one's still early on, no writer and no director yet, but having Fanning on board is a good place to start. [Deadline]
