In the past two years alone she’s played an ass-kicking superhero and a blood-sucking vampire. Now it looks like Chloe Moretz has a date to a prom and a burning high school in her screen future.

The young actress, best known for playing Hit Girl in the violent action-comedy Kick-Ass as well as the haunting horror film Let Me In and most recently Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning 3D fantasy Hugo, has just been confirmed for the title role in the new film version of Carrie. Based on Stephen King‘s first novel published in 1974, Carrie was adapted for the screen in 1976 by filmmaker Brian DePalma with Sissy Spacek in the title role of a shy high school student who uses her emerging telekinetic powers to take revenge on her tormentors. Both Spacek and Piper Laurie, who played Carrie’s religious fanatic mother, earned Academy Award nominations for their performances.

Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry, Stop-Loss) will direct the film from a screenplay by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, a writer and producer on Glee and Big Love. Moretz’s competition for the role included such prominent young actresses as Haley Bennett (Marley & Me), Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds), Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Bella Heathcote (In Time), Lily Collins (The Blind Side), and Shailene Woodley (The Descendants).

Moretz expressed her excitement at the news on her Twitter feed:

Carrie was previously remade as an NBC made-for-television movie in 2002. David Carson (Star Trek: Generations) directed and Bryan Fuller (Heroes) wrote the teleplay. Angela Bettis (May) and Patricia Clarkson (The Green Mile) played the roles of Carrie and her mother, respectively.

Filming on the new Carrie is expected to begin later this year. Moretz can next be seen in Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, opening on May 11, 2012.

[Source: Deadline]