Neither sci-fi drama thriller I Am Number Four nor high school fairytale romance adaptation Beastly have arrived in cinemas yet, but Alex Pettyfer is generating some serious casting heat, with companies seemingly lining up to offer him roles. Now Screen Gems is after him for one of the leads in its developing fantasy saga The Mortal Instruments.
Clearly hoping for a Twilight-level success with this one, the studio snapped up the rights to Cassandra Clare’s novel series (with the first three books already storming US bestseller lists since 2007, when City of Bones hit the shelves) back in 2009. Since then, Legion/Priest director Scott Charles Stewart has landed in the director’s chair and The Blind Side’s Lily Collins has been cast as the lead, Clary Fray.
Our heroine is a seemingly normal New York teen girl who discovers the “Shadowhunters,” a group dedicated to fighting and destroying demons, and who operate in secret, invisible to most humans. How is it Clary can see them? That would be telling! But perceive them she does, and meets the hunky, sarcastic Jace Wayland, a warrior with lots of tattoos and smouldering sex appeal (guess who).
Screen Gems boss Clint Culpepper (and producers/LOTR veterans Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne) apparently believe that Pettyfer is the man to play Jace and have offered him the part. There’s no word on whether he’ll take it yet, so this one remains a rumour for now. But the executives seem to be hinging the film’s shooting schedule on nabbing Pettyfer, so if the deal goes through, expect an official announcement soon.