Chloë Moretz, by far one of my favourite child actresses of all time, has been  in talks to join Tim Burton’s upcoming remake of the 1960s TV soap opera, Dark Shadows.

Moretz’s dramatic rise to fame came, of course, with last year’s Kick-Ass, in which she superbly played Hit Girl / Mindy Macready, daughter of Nicolas Cage’s Big Daddy / Damon Macready. Her role in the remake of the Swedish horror film Let The Right One In (retitled Let Me In for the American film) demonstrated a different side to her than was evident in Kick-Ass. For me, her roles in both truly prove her fame and recognition to be  well deserved.

The film will be a gothic horror, focusing on the life of Barnabas Collins, a 200-year-old vampire, and his run-ins with various monsters, witches, werewolves, and ghosts. Moretz will play the daughter of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer), the reclusive matriarchal figure of the Collins family. Moretz will be joining an already great cast, as is to be expected of any Tim Burton-directed film, with Johnny Depp talking the lead role of Barnabas, Eva Green (Casino Royale) taking the lead female opposite him, and Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns) and Jackie Earl Haley (Watchmen) starring alongside too. It is also expected that Helena Bonham Carter, Burton’s wife, will be attached to the film too, now a reasonably safe prediction for both her and Depp.

The script was originally to be written by John August (Corpse Bride, upcoming Frankenweenie), who has collaborated with Burton on many films now, but it is instead going to be written now by Seth Grahame-Smith, writer of the novels Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, both of which are being turned into films at the moment.

Given Moretz’s extremely impressive performance in Let Me In, a film in which she plays a young vampire child, I think there is every reason to expect another excellent role from her in Burton’s latest project. A supporting role in a Burton film can only help her already blossoming career, so I really hope that she gets it. Before then, she will be seen Martin Scorsese’s Hugo Cabret, which is due out at the end of November this year. For a fourteen-year-old girl to be able to say she’s starred in both a Martin Scorsese and a Tim Burton movie really is something.

Update: And now it’s just been confirmed! The Wrap have it that it’s no longer just talks, Moretz has officially joined Dark Shadow’s cast, which is brilliant. I truly can’t wait to see it when it’s finished.