H'wd plumbs fountain of youth (THR)

By R. Kinsey Lowe

With nearly a dozen projects aimed squarely at under-25s, Hollywood studios are determined not to let youth potential go to waste at the box office, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Young actors are in high demand as casting proceeds on movies like DreamWorks' "I Am Number Four," which has filled the title role with Alex Pettyfer, 20, and director D.J. Caruso mulls options for the other extraterrestrial refugees posing as earthly teens in the movie based on James Frey and Jobie Hughes' sci-fi novel. (At least one of the aliens will look like a grownup, as

Sharton Copley of "District 9" is expected to play a mentor to the others.)

Then there's Andrew Niccol's "I'm.mortal," in which no one looks older than 21.

"Hollywood always has been youth-obsessed," the Reporter noted, "but interest in teen-oriented pics has tended to be cyclical."

The success of "The Twilight Saga" movies has fueled some of the renewed interest in youth appeal, but the R-rated "The Hangover" made another aspect of the business glaringly apparent:

You don't always need expensive big-name talent to create a hit movie.

Testing that notion on Friday will be Lionsgate's comic book adaptation "Kick-Ass," with 20-year-old British actor Aaron Johnson and 13-year-old newcomer Chloe Moretz. Interestingly, some fanboy sites have been more enthusiastic about the energetic Moretz's performance than the main character played by Johnson.

Even so, young actors will have to demonstrate in auditions that they have the chops to pull off roles in big movies with franchise prospects.

More and more often casting directors are looking outside the U.S. to find young actors, as DreamWorks did with Pettyfer, who's from the U.K.

Max Irons, son of Jeremy, is being considered for Warners Bros.' "The Girl With the Red Riding Hood, which stars Amanday Seyfriend as a 17-year-old fending off the village werewolf in the Catherine Hardwicke-directed take on the fairy tale.

Actors under consideration for supporting roles include Shiloh Fernandez, Ethan Peck, Ed Speleers, Sam Claflin and Irons.

Bryan Singer, meanwhile, is looking for the title character for "Jack the Giant Killer" at New Line, and David Chase wantsr men 17-22 to play rockers in "The Twilight Zones" in his Paramount project about a band trying to break into the big time in the 1960s.

Not all of the parts are for guys, either. Agents are looking for actresses for "The Help," a DreamWorks movie about college-age white women and their family maids set in 1960s Mississippi (which is looking also to cast Viola Davis in a key grownup role).

Then there's that still-unfilled hot spot as Peter Parker in Sony's reboot of "Spider-man."