“Transformers: Age of Extinction” star Nicola Peltz and “Mad Max: Fury Road” actress Courtney Eaton are testing for the coveted title role in Paramount’s adaptation of John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” while John D’Leo (“Unbroken”) and Logan Miller are being eyed to play Colonel in the film, TheWrap has learned.
Peltz and Eaton join “The Witch” breakout Anya Taylor-Joy and model Imogen Waterhouse (“The Last Photograph”) on the shortlist to play mysterious boarding school student Alaska Young, who beguiles a new classmate names Miles.
Spider-Man finalist and former “Red Band Society” star Charlie Rowe and up-and-comer Mitchell Hope (Disney Channel’s “Descendants”) are the top contenders to play Miles.
Insiders suggest that Rowe and Taylor-Joy are the current frontrunners to play Miles and Alaska, though anything could happen once director Rebecca Thomas, producer Wyck Godfrey and Paramount executives review chemistry tests that will pair different actors together.
Another industry observer told TheWrap that Peltz is Paramount’s most likely choice given her “Transformers” history with the studio, though Thomas is open to a discovery like Taylor-Joy. Either way, the three main roles will likely be filled by a combination of the young actors listed above.
Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber adapted “Looking for Alaska” after tackling Green’s later novels “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Paper Towns.” Paramount has high hopes for “Alaska,” as “Fault” grossed more than $300 million and “Paper Towns” has already doubled its $12 million production budget after one weekend in release.
Peltz is a rising star who played Mark Wahlberg’s daughter in Paramount’s most recent “Transformers” movie, while Eaton is an Australian actress who played one of Immortan Joe’s five wives in “Mad Max: Fury Road.” She also co-stars in Alex Proyas’ big-budget fantasy film “Gods of Egypt.”
D’Leo recently played the young Leo Zamperini’s brother, Pete, in Angelina Jolie’s “Unbroken,” and he also played Robert De Niro’s son in Luc Besson’s “The Family.”
Miller currently be seen in “The Stanford Prison Experiment” and next stars in Paramount’s “Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.” He also starred in the Sundance drama “Take Me to the River.”
Paramount had no comment on the testing process for “Looking for Alaska.”
19 Moments From 'Clueless' That Wouldn't Happen in 2015 (Photos)
In honor of a very special birthday on July 19, here's a look at the moments that wouldn't have happened in L.A. today
Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) narrates her own thoughts and calls her friends to talk.
If she had social media, she'd be able to tweet her feelings and post on Facebook much more efficiently.
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Cher fails miserably on her driver's test.
Nowadays, kids clock in hours of mandatory driving school.
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Cher and her friends dress in short skirts to school.
Well, this still happens -- but you could get dress-coded for it. The appropriate length in many L.A. schools is past the fingertip plus an inch.
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Cher tries and fails to get Christian Stovitz's (Justin Walker) attention -- and later finds out he's gay.
Perhaps if she had added him on Facebook and snooped through his page, Cher would've realized the new guy was a "cake boy." Maybe he would've checked off "Men" in the "Interested In" section on his profile?
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Cher and Dionne Davenport (Stacey Dash) gripe about getting in trouble with their parents over their report cards.
These days, it's easy for even technologically challenged parents to access your grades online.
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Whenever Cher and her friends say "as if," "groovy," "audi," "stems," "Baldwins," "Bettys" and "buggin.'"
Two decades later, not all of the movie's lingo has survived. "Whatever," "like" and "totally" are still in our vocabulary -- using "Baldwin" and "Betty" to describe an attractive man and woman are not.
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Travis Birkenstock (Breckin Meyer) takes pride in having the most tardies in the class.
Sure, you might be ecstatic to have the most of anything, but you wouldn't get just an announcement -- too many tardies and you'd be suspended.
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Cher uses a pay phone to call her ex-step brother Josh (Paul Rudd) to come get her after being mugged.
Functioning pay phones are a thing of the past. If Cher had a smartphone, she would've booked an Uber in a matter of seconds and probably avoided the robber. Also, no one remembers anyone else's number by heart anymore.
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Cher gives a dry oral presentation in class without a Powerpoint or any elaborate visuals.
Cher didn't receive a phenomenal grade for that flimsy presentation and she certainly would have failed if she was being graded in 2015.
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Dionne sports a Dr. Seuss-like hat in school.
Most Los Angeles schools don't allow hats on at school, and students definitely wouldn't pick one that looks like hers.
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Cher's friends wear chokers.
Chokers are a fashion trend of the past, as they should be.
With the amount of traffic in L.A. today, this is a flat-out lie.
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Cher's teachers use chalkboards.
An overwhelming number of classrooms have ditched chalkboards for computer whiteboards, though it hasn't improved teachers' handwriting too much.
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Cher corrects Josh's girlfriend on a Shakespeare quote.
Cher wouldn't know the right quote simply because Mel Gibson said it on screen in a movie -- she'd know from always using CliffsNotes for English assignments.
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Cher drives her Jeep around town.
A high school teen with money wouldn't go for a Jeep -- a Benz or a Prius would be more likely.
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Cher, Dionne and everyone in school uses cellphones in the school hallway.
Think you could walk through the cafeteria while calling a friend? As if! That phone would be confiscated, you would get detention and your parent would have to come pick up your phone after school.
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Cher chomps on gum in class.
Most classrooms ban chewing gum because it ends up under the tables and on chairs. Yuck.
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Cher's closet mixes and matches outfits for her.
It's 2015 and we still don't have technology as advanced as that. We're buggin'.
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Cher and Dionne's gym class consists of standing in line for 40 minutes before hitting one tennis ball.
We'll give modern physical education props. It's much more fun than the one in "Clueless."
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To mark the teen comedy’s 20th anniversary, TheWrap looks at all the ways Cher Horowitz and her crew would be surprised by modern L.A. — from school whiteboards to Facebook to Uber
In honor of a very special birthday on July 19, here's a look at the moments that wouldn't have happened in L.A. today