Viola Davis Cast in The Big Screen Adaptation of ‘Beautiful Creatures”

Well, well it seems that we are getting closer to what we have been waiting for, because there was an official announcement for casting in the big screen adaptation of ‘The Beautiful Creatures’ novel, with the casting of Viola Davis! VIOLA DAVIS!!! Yes, the Viola Davis from ‘The Help’. Variety reported on her casting today…

With an Oscar nomination and SAG award in hand, Viola Davis has now found her next two projects, landing a supporting role in OddLot Entertainment’s “Ender’s Game” and the female lead in Warner Bros. and Alcon’s “Beautiful Creatures.”

“Beautiful Creatures” will be helmed by Richard LaGravenese with Erwin Stoff producing.

Pic is an adaptation of the Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia tome and follows two teens who must confront a curse that has haunted the girl’s family for generations.

Davis plays a librarian and friend of the teenage boy’s deceased mother who loves the boy like a son and will do whatever in her power to protect him.

LaGravenese penned the adaptation.

Gavin Hood is helming “Ender’s Game,” starring Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford.

Hood also penned the adaptation based on Orson Scott Card’s novel. Set in Earth’s utopian future, story follows a genius strategist recruited by the government to help destroy an insect-like alien race.

Davis will play a military psychologist who oversees the emotional welfare of the young trainees in Colonel Graff’s military program. She also helps design the games that test their skills and resilience.

OddLot, K/O Paper Products and Digital Domain are production partners on “Ender’s Game.” OddLot’s Gigi Pritzker and Linda McDonough are producing with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman via their K/O Paper Products banner, as well as Lynn Hendee, Robert Chartoff and Card. OddLot’s Bill Lischak and K/O’s Mandy Safavi will exec produce with Digital Domain’s Cliff Plumer and Ed Ulbrich.

The plan is for Davis to shoot “Ender’s Game” first and follow with “Beautiful Creatures” later in the year.

TheStar.com talks to Margie about Writing and The Beautiful Creatures Novels

TheStar.com talked to Margie on her recent trip to Kuala Lumpur. Margie, talked about her writing, and the end of writing the Beautiful Creatures novels. You can read an excerpt below, but for the entire thing, CLICK HERE.

Fantasy, she feels, is a way of exploring dangerous and powerful emotions and topics. “When you’re writing about supernatural powers you’re writing about emotional power.”

Stohl has just finished the revision for the final book of the Caster series, which will be published in October next year. The book, she says, is so closely connected to the third book that they are almost two halves of one book. And the stakes are very, very high for Lena and Ethan.

“The feeling of writing the last book is like a cross between a funeral, a wedding and a graduation. When I finished writing the draft I cried and when Kami finished writing her part of the draft she cried, and when the editor finished reading it she cried. It’s just so emotional to finally have this world closing,” she says.

After she closes the chapter on the Caster series, Stohl will be working on the Icon series alone without Garcia, which she admits is a scary endeavour.

“Not so much about the writing but about having to leave a successful franchise. It’s scary. What if the readers do not come? What if it doesn’t become an NYT bestseller?” she muses.

While Stohl says there’s a possibility of revisiting Gatlin once more, especially since there’s a movie coming out, she would like to focus on the Icon series now.

“Right now I think it’s important for both Kami and me to explore our own voices. We are going to do that, but we’ll always be friends and the possibility will always remain. I will never say never,” she says with a laugh.

Kami and Margie will be returning to Texas Book Festival

The Texas Book Festival announced their lineup for this year, and guess who was on it. We are pleased to say that Kami and Margie will be returning to Texas.

Beautiful Chaos: A Review

There are no ARC’s for Chaos, we have come to terms with the fact, that we will be waiting until October to read what happens next. However, selected reviewers were sent Chaos, and Bibliopunkk was one of those reviewers.

Let’s revisit the synopsis of Chaos.

“Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home,strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena’s Claiming. Even Lena’s family of powerful Supernaturals is affected – and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What – or who – will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?”

It leaves you wondering, what could happen? What is next? Are Ethan and Lena going to be together? Will they be happy? What else could happen?

Bibliopunkk review made us crave Chaos even more. It sounds like this book is amazing.

What Garcia and Stohl do in this book is nothing short of masterful. There’s always been a magic to their work (no pun intended).. a crispness and a quality that is barely rivaled in the Young Adult market. But, in this book, they have defeated their biggest rivals…themselves. It’s so hard as writers to keep readers’ attentions (and affections) running for several books in a series. Plots start to dwindle, character arcs become dull or tedious, and readers slip into ennui, become apathetic. Not so with this book. The main crux of this story will have readers gasping with anticipation until the final page. 

I loved this. I devoured it. It’s the book in the series that is most centered on the relationships and how the relationships between the characters in the small town of Gatlin can be tested and tampered with and broken. It is the book that is most about the characters within and their interactions. It’s the book that most beautifully underscores what relationships mean between loved ones, and what some sacrifices are truly worth. I was crying at the end of this book… it’s pretty damned poignant.

We can’t wait for Beautiful Chaos, and this review only makes us want to read it more.  It’s no surprise to us that this book is “masterful.” Garcia and Stohl consistently raise the bar as only they can do.

Kami’s New Series and her Movie Deal

Margie had been hinting for a while that Kami had a secret. Turns out, that late Saturday night, we found out that Kami did indeed have a secret, and it was a good one.

You remember previously, we had told you that Margie was writing her own series, Icons. Saturday night we were all given the news, Kami has one too.

Publishers Weekly made the announcement that Kami had sold  ”Unbreakable” and “Unbound” the first two books in The Legion series to Little Brown. The first book, Unbreakable, is due out Fall 2013.

The exciting news that came with that. The movie for Unbreakable is already in development, with none other then Twilight and Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief producer, Mark Morgan.

For more on Unbreakable, visit Kami’s Official Blog. You can also read more about it over on Hollywood Crush.

Congrats Kami and Margie on your solo deals. We can’t wait.

* Kami clarified that the draft was finished this spring, not the script.  The script will be forthcoming.