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Kristen Stewart to Lead Twisted Family Drama 'Lie Down in Darkness'

by Ben Pearson
August 2, 2012
Source: Vulture

We're not really down with the whole "digging into people's personal lives" thing here on FirstShowing, but if you've been consuming any form of media over the past couple of weeks then you've likely heard about Kristen Stewart's scandalous affair with her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders. We won't rehash the details here, so instead let's concentrate on the actress's future. Vulture is reporting that Stewart has locked down the lead role in a film adaptation of William Styron’s 1951 novel, Lie Down In Darkness. There's no start date or writer attached yet, but there's a director listed and story details too.

Stewart is reportedly set to play Peyton Loftis, the beautiful perfect daughter in a wildly dysfunctional family. Peyton is often compared with her crippled sister Maudie, her mother is bitterly jealous of Peyton's good looks, and her alcoholic father leers at her and has incest on the brain when he gets drunk. Crazy Heart helmer Scott Cooper is eyeing this project after he finishes work on Out of the Furnace with Christian Bale and Casey Affleck, and though Lie Down in Darkness doesn't officially have a writer attached yet, historically Cooper writes the scripts for projects he directs.

There's no word on when this would all come together, but apparently the film has been in development for years. Regardless of its release date, it's a step in the right direction for Stewart, who - like her co-star and unfortunate tabloid partner Robert Pattinson - is looking to distance herself from the Twilight franchise that made her a star. She's only 22 years old, after all, but with this and the forthcoming On the Road, she's showing some remarkably decent taste and we'll see how her career moves forward from here.

P.S. - Quick warning for those looking to stay spoiler free on the movie version: don't even glance at the Amazon page for Styron's novel, because the climax of the story is revealed after just a few seconds of scanning the page.

Filed under Casting, Movie News

From around the web:

mooreworthy

The "Three positive comments in a row about Stewart challenge." Ill start................
- http://www.facebook.com/matt.peloquin.14 Matt Peloquin
  
  1) she was phenomenal in Into the Wild and has a back for musical roles because she's an excellent guitar player. 2) she's a huge warrior in the fight to end prohibition. 3) During the past year she was the highest paid actor in Hollywood and everyone she works with wants to work with her again.
  - mooreworthy
    
    1. Didn't see that so ill have to take your word on that. did like her early work on Panic Room 2.prohibition? Are we in the Great Depression? 3.highest = quality?
    - Dominic A
      
      Marijuana prohibition . And no highest does not equal quality , but it does equal popularity and " more exposure for me since all her movies have a wide audience/make money " . Actors are leeches in that way ...
Lill

I loved the book can not wait to see this when it debuts .
jen

what ifs kstew deliberately did the ch-ng for her to get this role make sense to me goog goog
Teacherkid

She impressed me so much with "Into the Wild" - I hope to see her do something like that again.
Bobo_Vision

Now that she cheated on Twilight boy, her legion of fans will ditch this talentless wonder.
bozo connors

It's a mystery to me how she gets work.
- http://www.facebook.com/sydes Nick Sydes
  
  Seriously...
SuicidalOptimist

Meeeeeh! With the exception of Panic Room and...uh, well, I think that's it already. Ok, so, except for her role in Panic Room I can't remember a single movie where she didn't annoy the hell out of me after a while. She just portrays every character as a socially awkward, insecure, defensive and perpetually emo teenager. I swear, her constant lip-biting, head-tilting, gaze-dropping, hair-behind-the-ear-brushing and "ah-mah-gawd, don't-give-me-a-compliment; it-makes-me,-like,-so-uncomfortable!" thing where she smiles for a millisecond and then crosses her arms over her chest and shuffles her feet...it drives me up the goddamn wall. (I happened to watch SWATH and Adventureland last night, so her ticks are still very fresh in my mind =P) Stop doing that or GO. AWAY!
rennmaxbeta

Hope the director is fugly and very happily married this time.