Alcon Entertainment

LOS ANGELES, CA, FEBRUARY 9, 2012 - Two time Academy Award nominee, Emma Thompson, is in final negotiations to join the cast of the supernatural love story "Beautiful Creatures," based on the New York Times best selling novel of the same name - the first of a hugely popular series written by authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - it was announced by Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

In a flurry of recent casting announcements, Thompson will be joining Viola Davis, who is nominated for an Academy Award this year for her performance in "The Help," and newcomers Jack O'Connell and Alice Englert. Erwin Stoff ("Water for Elephants," "I Am Legend") will produce along with Kosove and Johnson ("The Blind Side," "The Book of Eli,") and Molly Smith ("Something Borrowed," "P.S. I Love You.").

Richard LaGravenese ("P.S. I Love You") will direct from his adaptation. A hauntingly intense coming of age story set in the South, "Beautiful Creatures" is about two star-crossed teenage lovers, Ethan, a local boy, and a mysterious new girl, Lena, who uncover dark secrets about their families, their history and their town. Thompson will play the dual role of Mrs. Lincoln, who is a small town religious firebrand, and Sarafine, who is the dark witch who possesses her.

Thompson will next be seen in Sony's "MIB3," the third installment in the "Men in Black" franchise due out in May followed by the UK film "Effie" which she wrote and stars in alongside Dakota Fanning.

Alcon, which has film rights to all three books in the series published by Little Brown Books, including "Beautiful Darkness," and "Beautiful Chaos," is looking at "Creatures" to kick off a possible franchise at WB.

Filming will begin in April in and around New Orleans. Alcon recently produced the hit "Dolphin Tale," a 3-D family film starring Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Kris Kristofferson. Thompson is repped by WME.

Alcon Entertainment co-founders and co-CEO's Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson founded the Company in 1997 with financial backing from Frederick W. Smith, the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx. Alcon, which is named after a mythological archer and ally of Hercules, has financed, and/or co-financed/produced over 19 films, including "My Dog Skip," "Dude, Where's My Car?", "Insomnia," "Racing Stripes," the Academy Award nominated Best Picture "The Blind Side," which earned Sandra Bullock a Best Actress Oscar; "The Book of Eli," starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman; "Insomnia," starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank and directed by Chris Nolan; "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," and "P.S. I Love You," starring Hilary Swank, among many others. The Company recently released the box-office success "Dolphin Tale," a 3-D family film starring Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Kris Kristofferson, released via Alcon's output deal with Warner Bros.