Ever wonder what happened to Keisha Castle-Hughes, after her break-out role as Paikea in Whale Rider? There were appearances in** Revenge of the Sith** and a version of** The Nativity**, but more-or-less our first look at a grown-up Keisha will be in Vampire, the English-language debut of All About Lily Chou-Chou's director Shunji Iwai.
**Vampire **stars Kevin Zegers (Transamerica, Dawn of the Dead) as a vampire high-school teacher (a teacher who is a vampire, not a teacher at a vampire high-school) with a penchant for feasting on emo girls. We're guessing that Castle-Hughes is a student rather than a fellow teacher, but she'll be joined onscreen by Kristin Kreuk (Street Fighter), Rachael Leigh Cook (Nancy Drew), and Adelaide Clemens (Wolverine). Amanda Plummer is also on hand. Another teacher? Headmistress? Elizabeth Bathory?
Okay, so it sounds like teen-horror Twilight bandwagoneering, but the scream-queen road is a tried and tested route into Hollywood for young actresses (it even works occasionally), so maybe this is a smart getting-noticed move for Castle-Hughes. Iwai's involvement is also intriguing, and may elevate this into something above meh.
Shooting just started in Vancouver.