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Even with a cast of characters comprised almost entirely of women, the story of Carrie had yet to be told from a female’s perspective — until now.
Sony‘s forthcoming adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel — brought to the big screen in 1976 by director Brian De Palma, and to the small screen in 2002 by director David Carson and screenwriter Bryan Fuller — is helmed by Stop-Loss and Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Peirce. (A forgettable 1999 sequel, titled The Rage: Carrie 2, was helmed by Katt Shea and only featured the actual title character in flashbacks of Sissy Spacek‘s 1976 performance.)
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Starring Chloe Grace Moretz as the title character, Julianne Moore as her religious mother and Judy Greer as her sympathetic gym teacher, Carrie hits theaters Oct. 18.
“I could identify with Carrie White,” Peirce tells The Hollywood Reporter. The 46-year-old had previously expressed her desire to depict more of Carrie’s mother’s chilling backstory, which was not included in De Palma’s original adaptation, including the disturbing circumstances of Carrie’s birth.
“I love that this woman loved her daughter to no end, but also had her own fears and her own shortcomings that made her do the things that felt repressive to her daughter, so they were locked in this love affair — this struggle,” Peirce says.
Q&A: ‘Carrie’ Star Chloe Grace Moretz on Stephen King’s Book, Fake Pig’s Blood and Bullying
For her stomach-turning shower scene in the school locker room, Moretz was grateful for Peirce’s decision to [spoiler alert] do away with the gratuitous nudity that made De Palma’s 1976 film a classic among teen boys.
“I think men a lot of the time will use women in ways of sexuality and over show boobs and all of that, and you’re going, ‘OK, there’s no real need for that,’ ” Moretz, 16, tells THR. “In our film, it was more this is an emotional movie about these young girls. You don’t even need the sex, we don’t need the heaviness of that.”
Moore calls the mother-daughter relationship between Carrie and Margaret “the heart of the film,” laughing as she recalls some of her more chilling scenes with Moretz: “I didn’t want to hit her!”
For more from the actors, watch the video above. Carrie opens nationwide Oct. 18.
Twitter: @SophieSchillaci
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