Hollywood Crush › Amy Wilkinson

The witching hour is nigh. How nigh? Deadline is reporting that "Beautiful Creatures"—the big-screen adaptation of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's Southern gothic novel—will hit theaters in a little less than a year, on February 1, 2013.

Progress on the long-gestating project has ramped up of late, with casting announcements speeding by quicker than Link's clunky Beater. First came word that two-time Oscar nominee Viola Davis will play seer Amma. Next, the movie's leads (and star-crossed loves) were found: Alice Englert will play Caster Lena, while "Skins" star Jack O'Connell will play Ethan, the boy who loves her. Add in Emma Thompson, who's been cast as both dark witch Sarafine and Link's mom, Mrs. Lincoln, and we've got one compelling cast on our hands.

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Tags Beautiful Creatures

Further proof an actor should think twice about turning down a badass bloodsucker role: Directors watch vampire dramas too.

MTV News recently caught up with "Battleship" helmer Peter Berg and the film's leading man Alexander Skarsgård (whom you may know as Eric from HBO's "True Blood") at Toy Fair, and the director let it be known he's been following Alex's work on a certain sexy series.

"I was a fan of 'True Blood' [and] all the girls in the office stormed my office and demanded that we cast him," Peter said of offering the role to the Swede. Of course, with the topic of "True Blood" on the table, I had to ask Alex for any and all hints about the upcoming season, set to debut this summer.

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Tags Alexander Skarsgard, Battleship, Chris Meloni, True Blood, Video

I'm sure we could all cop to a literary crush or two—Edward Cullen, Peeta Mellark, The Cat in the Hat (What!? We were weird kids!)—but what if your fictional boyfriend actually came to life? Like, you could touch him? Such is the wonderful premise of Jodi Picoult's YA debut, "Between the Lines."

You probably know Jodi as the author of adult novels like "The Tenth Circle," "Nineteen Minutes" and "My Sister's Keeper," which was adapted into a movie starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin, but the best-selling author is venturing into teen-lit territory with the help of her 16-year-old daughter and co-author Samantha van Leer.

"Between the Lines" is the story of teen Delilah, a loner bookworm who'd like nothing more than to abandon polite society and take up residence in a far-flung library somewhere. And there's one tome she's been favoring more than the others, which might have something to do with the fact that she's fallen in love with its fairy-tale prince Oliver...who's come to life! Trapped in the confines of the page, Oliver wants nothing more than to stop being book-ended and explore the real world, and with the help of Delilah, he might just get his wish.

Sounds totally cute, right? As a special treat to you, we've gotten our chocolate-covered paws on the story's first two chapters. Check out the EXCLUSIVE excerpt after the jump, download the full PDF, and be sure to pick up a copy of "Between the Lines" when it hits bookstores June 26.

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Tags Between the Lines, Jodi Picoult, Samantha van Leer

Sad news, "Mortal Instruments" fans. Screen Gems, the studio set to produce the big-screen adaptation of Cassandra Clare's urban fantasy, has untethered itself from the project, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Starring Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower, all signs pointed to a 2012 production date for the film, with "Priest" director Scott Stewart at the helm. "Pretty Little Liars" writer I. Marlene King had penned a revised version of the script, which she handed into the brass at Sony (Screen Gems' parent company) last fall. Scott has since left the project to work on the TV version of the studio's flick "Legion."

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Tags Cassandra Clare, Jamie Campbell Bower, Lily Collins, Mortal Instruments

In just a few short hours, Bella and Edward will be yours to have and to hold forever as "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" hits DVD and Blu-ray. Target stores across the country (500 in all) will be hosting special release parties beginning at 11 p.m., where you'll not only be able to pick up a copy of the hot hit but also see a sneak peek clip of "Breaking Dawn - Part 2." (Yes, we are squeezing our Edward Cullen doll extra tight right now to avoid hyperventilating...)

But we can't let Target have all the fun. Nuh-uh. Which is why we spent the better part of this afternoon watching the disc's nearly 90-minute, six-part making-of documentary. And boy did we learn a lot—we could write a thesis! But we won't. Cause that'd be boring. So instead, we've compiled a list of five interesting facts we gleaned from the special feature. Check 'em out after the jump!

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Tags Bill Condon, Breaking Dawn, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, Video

Taylor Swift is making herself right at home in District 12. Or at least that's how it looks after previewing a sneak peek of the country cutie's music video for "Safe and Sound," a collaboration with The Civil Wars that will appear on "The Hunger Games" soundtrack (out March 20).

If you haven't heard, the songstress is stopping by MTV on Monday to debut the full-length clip, as well as sit down with our man Sway Calloway for a 30-minute interview in which she'll talk about the single, her future projects and much more. But in the meantime, feast on this bite, which finds Taylor, clothed in a simple white frock, walking through a barren forest (it's so Panem!), while The Civil Wars play inside a fire-lit cabin.

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Tags Hunger Games, Taylor Swift, Video

Bella, meet Katniss. Katniss, meet Bella. Though the heroines of YA's chief wunderkinds have yet to meet in real life (or so we've been told), they'll come face-to-face on the big screen when the trailer for "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" debuts before theatrical showings of "The Hunger Games," according to the L.A. Times.

The news isn't all together surprising considering the studios behind the teen titans (Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate) announced plans last month to merge, creating a single home for our biggest on-screen obsessions. Yet, it's also no secret that though these two fan factions often intersect, many stans still claim alliance to only one franchise or the other.

Which leaves us wondering, will you be buying a ticket to "The Hunger Games" come March 23? And why? Vote in our poll after the jump to let us know!

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Tags Breaking Dawn, Hunger Games, Twilight

Stock up on the Puffs Plus because Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams are here to make you weep. Their romantic drama, "The Vow," hits theaters this weekend, right in time for Valentine's Day (hint, hint, boyfriends of the world), and this is one tear-jerking affair, to be sure. Rachel stars as a young woman who suffers a traumatic brain injury in a car accident, and as a result, can no longer recall meeting or falling in love with her husband (Channing). Heavy stuff! But despite the sometimes melancholy material, Channing said it was an enjoyable experience falling in love with Rachel...on screen.

"It was easy. She's lovely, and we had a great time," he said.

Thankfully, it appears the feelings were mutual. "We got along really well," Rachel agreed. "It doesn't always go that way, but it's such a bonus. It doesn't necessarily mean that it won't seem like there's chemistry on the screen. You can not get along on screen, and it's still there somehow."

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Tags Channing Tatum, Rachel McAdams, The Vow, Video

If you've read Suzanne Collins' excellent "Hunger Games" trilogy, you know that blood-lusting teens aren't the only foes District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark must face in the titular Games. In this dystopian reality, scientists have busied themselves slicing and dicing genomes to create murderous mutants worthy of your worst nightmares. And they've plopped them smack dab in the middle of the arena.

Among this nasty creature collective is a super species of wasp known as tracker jackers, whose venomous stings cause hallucination and even death. Yet, despite their killer instincts, the insects end up playing an important role in Katniss' survival, all the while posing one of the biggest filming challenges to director Gary Ross.

"That's a vertical sequence, literally staged over 100 vertical feet," Gary said, explaining the difficulties of the sequence. "You have the careers on the ground. You have Katniss on one level in a tree, and you have Rue in another tree up here. You have the tracker jacker nest up here, and the crew is going up and down this tree the entire time, and you have all these axis to cut together into one taut, suspenseful sequence. And you have CG insects. This is not for the faint of heart. I think my shot list was like 110 set-ups or something like that. We're building scaffolding. This was shot practically in trees—none of this was shot on the computer. That was a daunting and challenging sequence that required a lot of attention."

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Tags Gary Ross, Hunger Games, Video

It may not afford a trip to Disney World or a little gold man, but People magazine's annual Sexiest Man Alive proceedings are a contentious contest, nonetheless.

To wit, when "The Hangover" star Bradley Cooper earned the auspicious title over 2011's Golden God Ryan Gosling, fans took up arms, launching online protests and even going so far as to picket outside of People's Time Inc. headquarters. So when our own Josh Horowitz caught up with 2010's Sexiest Man Alive, Ryan Reynolds, at the "Safe House" junket, he had to get the hottie's take on the situation.

Surprisingly (or perhaps not), Ryan was completely unaware of the kerfuffle. "I did not hear about this," he said, after joking that he was now on the Sexiest Man Alive lecture circuit. "Are you kidding?"

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Tags Bradley Cooper, People Magazine, Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds, Video