Ian Somerhalder, currently starring as the dark & mysterious Damon Salvatore in “The Vampire Diaries,” hot enough to give Robert Pattinson a run for hottest vampire, has signed on to star in “Cradlewood,” a romantic gothic fairy tale set in Boston. Somerhalder will play the son of an old Boston blue-blood family, the heir to a fortune, who’s dating an Australian girl. A family legend of his suggests that the family fortunes are tied up with a demon, and that a curse means that every time a boy is born into the family, his father dies. When he begins to experience strange things at the same time he starts suspecting his girlfriend is pregnant, he begins to worry that it’s not just an old wives’ tale.

“Cradlewood” is based on original story by Harry Weinmann. Emma Lung will play Somerhalders’ girlfriend in the movie. The script was written by Stephen Sewell and John Paul Chapple, and will be produced by Michel Shane and David Redman.

Per Hollywood Reporter:

“We see this is as almost like an American-style ‘Pan’s Labyrinth‘ in look and feel,” Shane said. “It’s a perfect segue for the kids who have outgrown ‘Twilight‘ but want something romantic and scary. Our monster will be quite terrifying; she is sexually attractive and monstrous at the same time.”

“Cradlewood” is scheduled to start shooting in Melbourne, Australia in April, during Somerhalders’ hiatus from “The Vampire Diaries.” It’s an interesting plot, although I’m struggling a little to see were the “romance” is at this point. Oh well, do we really care? I mean, its Ian-freakin’-Somerhalder! His lines could consist of nothing more than reading the nutritional facts off the side of a Planters Peanuts jar and I’d pay the price of admission, repeatedly, to see his sexiness sizzle on screen!

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Images Via: WENN