Max Irons to star in The Girl with the Red Riding Hood

Max Irons, son of Jeremy Irons, has been set to star with Amanda Seyfried and Shiloh Fernandez in The Girl with the Red Riding Hood, the Warner Bros action film that will be directed by Twilight’s Catherine Hardwicke, in preparation for its July 7 start date in Vancouver.

Amanda Seyfried is playing a woman in a medieval village being terrorized by a werewolf. Earlier this week, Shiloh Fernandez nabbed the role of an orphaned woodcutter for whom Seyfried falls, much to the displeasure of her family.

Irons will play Henri, the son of a blacksmith who, through an arrangement, is to marry Seyfried’s character.

Julie Christie, who would make her first studio movie since 2004’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” would play Seyfried’s grandmother, whose favorite pastime is knitting — with a pair of silver needles.

Gary Oldman would play Father Soloman, a man whose title is the Witchfinder General and whose job is to find and kill the werewolf.

The final decision to cast the two teenagers competing for Seyfried’s affection came after Hardwicke held a two-day “smack-down” where she brought eight young actors to a Hollywood sound stage and had them compete for the part. “It was wild,” says the director, reminiscing about the 21 hours of tape she culled from the intense two-day try-out. “We had eight guys all competing with each other for two parts. They all read with Amanda and they also had to do fight scenes with each other. It was kinda good to get their aggression out.”

As for Irons—who happens to be the son of Jeremy Irons—Catherine loved his classical British training which fit the more refined, mysterious role of Henry perfectly. “I don’t want to say too much about Max’s character. He’s one of the surprises in the movie. He’s not what you think he is on the surface.”

Irons has been nominated for an Ian Charleson Award in the UK – the award celebrates outstanding new talent in the theatre. He’s repped by UTA and UK-based Tavistock Wood.

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