Dakota Fanning officially onboard for Twilight’s ‘New Moon’

After her recent endearing performance in ‘The Secret Life of Bees,’ the always engaging Ms. Dakota Fanning has landed a role that is causing a whole new kind of buzz: She’s been tapped to appear in the sequel to the recent teen-angst juggernaut, Twilight, according to the Risky Biz blog.

At the tender age of only 15, Ms. Fanning already has an impressive chronicle of roles to her credit, but her apparent involvement in the second installment of one of the most popular movies of the last twelve months should place her firmly among Hollywood’s most bankable stars. The movie, ‘New Moon’ is due to start lensing soon, with a release date scheduled for around Thanksgiving. In this sure-to-be-hotly-awaited installment, Dakota will play an endearing but devious vampire alongside Rob Pattison, who has recently signed to make a return.

Due to be filmed almost entirely in Italy, exact details of the plot for the sequel are, as yet, unclear. Which is hardly surprising considering the means by which the news of Dakota’s new role came to light: It’s common practice for studios, even one as nascent as Summit, to distribute promotional disks to those in the media to garner reviews and generate buzz; In the case of Twilight, the DVD case included an seemingly unintentional but official announcement of Ms. Fanning’s involvement.

One thing, however, is perfectly clear; With Mr. Pattison as her new paramour, she just became the focus of envy for every teenage girl who can tolerate daylight.