Universal Finds Its 'Endless Love' Leads

After months of searching, Universal’s remake of Endless Love has found its leads: Gabriella Wilde and Alex Pettyfer.

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The two are in negotiations to star as teens in a love that turns a dark and disastrous corner, stepping into the roles that were played by Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt in the 1981 original.

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Shana Feste is directing, while Scott Stuber and Pam Abdy of Bluegrass Films and Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage of Fake Empire are producing.

Wilde was among the quartet of actress that THR revealed tested for the part in early February. The others included Sarah Bolger, who recently played Princess Aurora in ABC’s cult hit fantasy Once Upon a Time; Olivia Cooke, who co-stars in A&E’s Carlton Cuse TV series Bates Motel; and Sophie Lowe, an up-and-coming Australian actress who appeared in a horror movie called Roadkill and starred in a Down Under TV series titled The Slap.

The girls tested opposite up-and-coming Australian actor Brenton Thwaites. In the end, the studio decided to go in a different direction in terms of males and narrowed its search on the female side to Lowe and Wilde.

Wilde, repped by ICM Partners and Tavistock Wood in the U.K., appeared in Paul W.S. Anderson’s Three Musketeers and will be seen in the upcoming remake of Carrie.

Pettyfer is the British actor who starred in I Am Number Four and appeared with Matthew McConaughey in Magic Mike. He is repped by WME and Hansen Jacobson.