Mary-Kate’s latest project, Beastly is based on the best-selling YA book by Alex Flinn of the same name. The book updates the traditional fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast and puts it in modern-day New York. The book is inspired by the many different tellings of Beauty and the Beast - not just the Disney version! - so it may be a bit different than we’re used to.

Kyle Kingsbury is the popular kid at school, who becomes cursed when he plays a practical joke on Kendra, a girl in his class. (Mary-Kate is playing Kendra). To get back at him, Kendra places a spell on Kyle - he will be turned into a beast and must find true love within two years or be a beast forever. He eventually convinces a burglar to bring his daughter to him in exchange for freedom and this girl is the beast’s last hope.

What makes the book unique is that it tells the story of Beauty and the Beast from the beast’s point of view. Beastly was well received by readers and critics alike, winning several YA awards and topping many reading lists.

Alex Flinn is a popular YA author who has written six books including Breathing Underwater, Nothing to Lose and Fade to Black.

Neil Patrick Harris has signed on to the movie to play Kyle’s blind tutor, Will. I’m getting more excited by this movie by the day. Neil atrick Harris and Mary-Kate Olsen in a movie together? Bring it on.

The movie is expected to be in theaters next summer.

Image: Amazon

Mary-Kate Olsen will join the cast of Beastly, a modern day take on the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, Variety reported today. Beastly is based on the Alex Flinn fantasy novel that moves the story of the Beast and Belle to modern day New York City.

The project, which is being put together by CBS films, will also star High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens as the fair maiden.

Mary-Kate’s role sounds pretty small. The tale starts when a spoiled rich kid dumps his date (played by MK). Mary-Kate is Kendra, the evil witch, who decides to punish the prince for scorning her. His punishment? A nasty curse that turns him into everything he hates. The only way to break the spell is to find true love.

Beastly will begin shooting on June 13th in Montreal, Canada. Also starring in the film is Alex Pettyfer, who plays the beast.

I think this will be a fun and different role for MK. It can’t be that large, because it’s filming the same time as her other project Meskada. It’s one of CBS’s first feature film projects so I’m excited to see how they adapt the book while still staying true to the fairy tale so many people know and love.

Image: Bauer Griffin

Today, it was announced that the indie film Meskada will begin production on June 8th in Catskill, New York. Listed among the cast members? Our very own Mary-Kate Olsen!

Meskada follows Noah Cordin, a small town detective, who is attempting to solve a juvenile homicide that happened during a home burglary. The town rallies around the family of the deceased, but as the investigation reveals more and more truths about the town and it’s inhabitants, it becomes unclear as to who the victims are.

Also on the cast list are Penn Badgley of Gossip Girl; Kellan Lutz, who plays Emmett Cullen in the Twilight movies; Vincent D’Onofrio from Law & Order: Criminal Intent; and Cynthia Nixon of Sex and the City.. The film is being backed by Aliquot Films, it will be the company’s second project. Their first was the acclaimed film Knucklehead.

Josh Sternfeld wrote and will direct the film. Josh is a relatively unknown writer and director, with his best known work being 2004’s Winter Solstice.

It sounds like an exciting and interesting project with a hip and stellar cast. I have no idea what sort of role MK has in the project, but I’m hoping more details are leaked soon!

They’re still looking for extras, if you’re in the New York area and ever wanted to be in a film with MK! All the details are here. They can’t pay you, but it would be an awesome experience!

Image: INF

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are looking at venturing back into film together. They’ve been looking a scripts, trying to find the perfect new joint project.

One script they particularly like is a crime thriller based on Audrey Hepburn’s 1967 Wait Until Dark. Audrey starred as a blind woman who was stalked by Alan Arkin.

The Chicago Sun-Times claims that the update would involve MK and Ashley starring as blind twins. I think MK and Ashley are looking at scripts–perhaps separately, together or for DualStar–but the girls have been adamant that their dual-acting career is over.

What do you think?

Mary-Kate Olsen has been doing a lot of press lately. This week, Pop Sugar UK caught up with her as she chatted about The Wackness.

Image used with permission from Sony Pictures Classics

As we know, Mary-Kate is seriously pursuing acting now. However, her years as a child star didn’t exactly spawn this new-found passion.

“I was never challenged when it came to acting when I was younger and I sort of just did whatever was given to me without asking questions,” she said to Pop Sugar. “I didn’t really understand why I enjoyed it or why I did it and I guess I wasn’t quite sure about it anymore. I made the decision to take acting seriously after high school. When I was in my Freshman year at college (at NYU) I took some acting classes and found that I fell in love with acting again.”

The interview is all about the film, what it was like to work with Ben Kingsley and Jonthan Levine and how she feels about her character, Union.

Read it for yourself here.

The Wackness premieres in the UK on August 29.

In honor of the Irish premiere of The Wackness, starring Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby and Mary-Kate Olsen, Movies.ie interviewed Mary-Kate about her experience filming the movie. They chat about working with Ben Kingsley, MK’s infamous kissing scene, being constantly followed by the paparazzi, and where she sees her career going.

I love this quote about her professional limits. When asked what MK would and would not do for her career:

“I’m never going on the cover of Maxim - at all!” she said. “I only go along with what I am comfortable with.”

There isn’t anything new in the interview, but it’s good to see that Mary-Kate is dedicated to the marketing of the film. She’s serious about her acting career and tirelessly working to promote herself and her movies will only do her good.

You can read the interview for yourself here.

The Wackness premieres in Ireland on August 29.

Mary-Kate Olsen is only in The Wackness for nine minutes. She’s featured in two scenes and in both scenes, her character, Union, is stoned out of her mind. I think MK did a great job in her role, but I think it’s weird that the media and the studio hyped her perfomance in the film so much and she’s in it so little.

The video below is her first scene in the film. It’s early in the movie and Stephanie, Luke’s love interest, just found out that Luke is a dealer. MK is one of his regular clients.

The video below is her second, and final, scene in the film. This scene is much longer and it’s the infamous bar scene wherein she makes out with Ben Kingsley’s character.

What do you think of Mary-Kate’s performance? What sort of role do you think she should take on next?

In its limited NYC- and LA-only release, The Wackness did quite well over the holiday weekend, averaging $24,177 in six theatres. It made $145,064 overall, according to Variety, and had the highest per-location average of the weekend!

Image details: “The Wackness” 2008 Sundance Portrait Shoot served by picapp.com

These stats are promising for a wider release later this summer. The biggest winner at the box office this weekend was Hancock starring Will Smith.

Jonathan Levine and his cast and crew should be proud of their success this weekend! Congrats to them and I loom forward to when the movie finally comes to Toronto!

The Wackness was shown at the Los Angeles Film Festival last week (Hilary Duff went and saw it!). At the awards ceremony last night, it was revealed that director and writer Jonathan Levine won won the audience award for narrative feature directing!

Image details: "The Wackness" 2008 Sundance Portrait Shoot served by picapp.com

Critics and film festivals have been loving this film! It’s a strange subject and even period to be set in, so it will be interesting to see how it does in theatres when it’s released nationwide on July 3. I’m really excited to see it and I hope it does really well!

Congrats to Jonathan and the entire cast and crew for their award!!

Mary-Kate Olsen looked gorgeous at the NYC premiere of The Wackness last night. The dress, the belt, the hair, the clutch, I love it all.

The Wackness will premiere nationwide on July 3. MK will be on David Letterman tonight to promote the movie, so be sure to tune in!

Image details: The Cinema Society and Sony Cierge Host a Screening of "The Wackness" served by picapp.com

More photos after the jump!

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