Kristen Lands Lead in "Lie Down in Darkness"

Vulture: Kristen Stewart may have become tabloid fodder in recent days, but the 22-year-old seems decidedly committed to being taken seriously as an actress: Vulture hears exclusively that Stewart has landed the lead role in an indie adaptation of William Styron’s 1951 novel, Lie Down In Darkness. Directed by Crazy Heart helmer Scott Cooper and set in genteel fifties Virginia, Lie Down will have Stewart play Peyton Loftis. As part of a dysfunctional and disintegrating family, Peyton is constantly compared to her crippled sister, Maudie, and her intense physical beauty makes her the object of her frigid mother’s jealous hatred and the target of her father’s incestuous, alcoholic lust. (Stewart will also appear in another fifties-era film, Walter Salles's On the Road, when it's released in the U.S. sometime this fall/winter.)

The part of Peyton had been coveted by Jennifer Lawrence, but Lawrence will spend the better part of the next year shooting sequels. (Catching Fire ignites this fall, while a new X-Men film at Fox commences shooting in January.) Set up at Open Road Films, Darkness has been in development for years by producer Jeff Sharp (You Can Count on Me, Proof) and while it’s unclear how soon it might start production, this is a major casting hurdle cleared.

The Hollywood Reporter:  UPDATED: Scott Cooper ("Crazy Heart") wrote the script and is attached to direct what is described as a Dickensian and Dostoyevsky-like heavy drama.

Kristen Stewart is attached to Lie Down in Darkness, Open Road Media’s planned adaptation of a 1951 William Styronnovel, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) wrote the script and is attached to direct what is described as a Dickensian and Dostoyevsky-like heavy drama that charts the rise of a Southern family. The family includes Milton Loftis, a drunken patriarch who lusts after one of his two daughters, a frigid mother and the aforementioned daughters -- one beautiful, the other a cripple.

Stewart would play Peyton, the tragic beauty.

The Twilight star's involvement is only an attachment at this point because the project is not financed and has no start date. Sources say financing likely will hinge on the casting of the male lead. Oscar winner Colin Firth was attached to the part at one point, but that is no longer the case, according to sources.

Stewart is coming off of Snow White & the Huntsman, which was a modest hit for Universal this summer. While the studio has hired David Koepp to write a sequel, it's unclear if that movie would happen before or after Lie Down, should it get financing. Stewart next will be seen in November's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II, the final installment of the mega-grossing vampire franchise. She also has On the Road, based on the Jack Kerouac novel, which premiered at Cannes in May but does not have a set release date in the U.S.

UPDATE: A source close to the project cautions that the development is at an early stage. "While its exciting to see all the interest the project is generating, the film is still in the pre-production process and no offers to cast have been made as of yet," says the source

via @KstewAngel <3