Pearce and Madison not afraid of "Dark"

By Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Guy Pearce is in final negotiations and Bailee Madison is set to star with Katie Holmes in "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," a supernatural thriller based on a 1973 telefilm.

The original ABC movie centred on a young girl who moves in with her father and his girlfriend and discovers they are sharing the house with demonic creatures.

Madison ("Bridge to Terabithia") will play the girl, who discovers the creatures and is fascinated by them -- until they prove dangerous. Pearce will play the father, an author frustrated by his daughter's tales of monsters, not believing her even when his girlfriend (Holmes) backs her.

Troy Nixey, a protege of filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, is directing the film for Miramax. Del Toro wrote the script with Matthew Robbins.

Madison next appears in Jim Sheridan's "Brothers" alongside Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman. Due for release next year are "An Invisible Sign of My Own," with Jessica Alba, and "Betty Anne Waters," with Hilary Swank.

Pearce has a cameo in Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" and next appears in "The Road," Dimension's adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel.

(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)

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