Dakota Fanning Will Play Jane in ‘Twilight’ Sequel ‘The Twilight Saga’s New Moon’

CHICAGO – It started as a rumor, but sources are reporting today that Summit Entertainment has officially announced that Dakota Fanning will play Jane in “The Twilight Saga’s New Moon,” the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster “Twilight”. The Chris Weitz-directed film based on the Stephenie Meyer book will start shooting in Canada soon.

The news of the controversial casting decision was first broken by Twilighters Anonymous, who revealed that Summit Entertainment made the announcement via email to “Twilight the Movie” subscribers. The headline of the email simply read “Dakota Fanning joins New Moon”.

The text of the announcement went on to say, “Acclaimed actress Dakota Fanning has officially joined the cast. And will play fan favorite Jane in The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

Now, of course, there is no official public press release, so take this announcement as something between a rumor and a fact. It’s hard to believe Summit or someone within the company would send the email if it weren’t true but the lack of a press release or public announcement is unusual.

There have been rumors about Dakota Fanning playing the Volturi character Jane for some time with the star herself saying, “The character is what I would be excited about. It’s kind of evil, something I’ve never done before, and it’s a vampire. You know, it’s really cool, so I really hope it works out.”

Dakota Fanning
Photo credit: Summit Publicity

The Chris Weitz-directed sequel will star Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, and now Dakota Fanning. Lucy Hale, Vanessa Hudgens and AnnaLynne McCord have also been the subject of casting rumors.

“Twilight,” which stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Ashley Greene and Taylor Lautner from director Catherine Hardwicke, has grossed $178 million domestically. This has put the “New Moon” sequel, now called “The Twilight Saga’s New Moon” into production immediately and has spawned a series of casting rumors. Other books in the Stephenie Meyer series include “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn”.

Read our story about DVD release parties for “Twilight”.
Read about Drew Barrymore directing “The Twilight Saga’s Eclipse”.
How can you win a walk-on part in “The Twilight Saga’s New Moon”?
Read about Bronson Pelletier casting in “The Twilight Saga’s New Moon”.
Read about the release date of “The Twilight Saga’s Eclipse”.
Read about the new name and logo for “The Twilight Saga’s New Moon”.
Read about why Catherine Hardwicke left the “Twilight” franchise.
Read about AnnaLynne McCord auditioning for “New Moon”.
Read about Dakota Fanning talking about “New Moon”.
Read about the open casting call for “New Moon”.
Read about Lucy Hale auditioning for “New Moon”.
See our 2009 Summit release slideshow with “New Moon”.
See our high-quality, 28-image “Twilight” slideshow.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com