Chloe Grace Moretz to Headline Brain on Fire

Chloe Grace Moretz will headline Brain on Fire

Although she was announced to star last summer, scheduling issues have forced Dakota Fanning to drop out of the planned adaptation of Susannah Cahalan’s memoir, Brain on Fire. The Hollywood Reporter has already named a replacement, however, bringing word that Chloe Grace Moretz will step into the leading role in the feature, which is being produced by Charlize Theron and her production company, Denver and Delilah. Gerard Barrett is set to direct and both Will Poulter and Thomas Mann are also attached to star.

The book, “Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness” was published in 2012. On her official site, Cahalan describes it as follows:

One day, I woke up in a strange hospital room, strapped to my bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. My medical records—from a month-long hospital stay of which I have no memory—showed psychosis, violence, and dangerous instability. Yet, only weeks earlier I had been a healthy twenty-four year old, six months into my first serious relationship and beginning a career as a cub reporter at the New York Post.

My memoir Brain on Fire chronicles the swift path of my illness and the lucky, last-minute intervention led by one of the few doctors capable of saving my life. As weeks ticked by and I moved inexplicably from violence to catatonia, $1 million worth of blood tests and brain scans revealed nothing. The exhausted doctors were ready to commit me to the psychiatric ward, in effect condemning me to a lifetime of institutions, or death, until Dr. Souhel Najjar—nicknamed Dr. House—joined my team. He asked me to draw one simple sketch, which became key to diagnosing me with a newly discovered autoimmune disease in which my body was attacking my brain, an illness now thought to be the cause of “demonic possessions” throughout history.

Moretz, who recently starred in The Equalizer, can next be seen The 5th Wave opposite Liev Schreiber, Ron Livingston, Nick Robinson, Maggie Siff, Maika Monroe, Alex Roe and Zackary Arthur.

Theron is producing Brain on Fire alongside AJ Dix and Beth Kono. You can check out a trailer for the book itself in the player below:

(Photo Credit: C.Smith / WENN.com)

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