‘The Giver’ Actress Odeya Rush to Join Jack Black in Sony’s ‘Goosebumps’ Movie (Exclusive)

The 16 year-old Israeli starlet will play Black’s niece in Rob Letterman’s adaptation of R.L. Stine’s popular book series

After wrapping a key role alongside Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep in “The Giver,” 16 year-old Israeli actress Odeya Rush has landed the young female lead in Sony’s “Goosebumps,” TheWrap has learned.

Jack Black has closed a deal to star in the feature adaptation of R.L. Stine’s popular book series, which is being directed by Rob Letterman, the filmmaker who worked with Black on “Gulliver’s Travels” and “Shark Tale.”

Neal H. Moritz (the “Fast & Furious” franchise) will produce with Deborah Forte of Scholastic Entertainment.

Also read: Jack Black in Negotiations to Star in ‘Goosebumps’ Movie for Sony, Scholastic Media (Exclusive)

Black will play Mr. Shivers, a Stine-like author whose scary characters literally leap off the page, forcing him to hide from his own creepy creations.

Rush will play Black’s quirky and mysterious niece, who teams up with her young male neighbor to battle the monsters unleashed from Mr. Shivers’ works.

“Goosebumps” is one of the most popular children’s book series ever, surpassed only by the “Harry Potter” novels in total sales, with more than 300 million copies sold worldwide. The series has been published in over 32 languages and was successfully adapted as a TV series by Scholastic Entertainment for the Fox Kids Network, where it was rated #1 for four seasons and aired in over 100 countries.

Episodes of the live-action television series returned to the small screen in 2007 on Cartoon Network and “Goosebumps” has also spawned a video game from Scholastic Interactive.

Also read: Alexander Skarsgard, Cameron Monaghan in Talks to Join Meryl Streep in ‘The Giver’ (Exclusive)

Sony execs Hannah Minghella and Elizabeth Cantillon will oversee the “Goosebumps” movie for the studio.

Rush was last seen in Disney’s “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” and Jim Mickle’s cannibal movie “We Are What We Are.” The actress, who has appeared on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” is represented by the Gersh Agency and attorney Rick Genow.

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