By Chris Gardner
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Tue May 20, 2003 03:39 AM ET
CANNES (Hollywood Reporter) - Backstreet Boy Nick Carter is making
the jump to the big screen, signing on to star in the "Sleepy Hollow"-
inspired horror thriller "Hollow."
The indie project also will mark the feature debut of "8 Simple Rules
for Dating My Teenage Daughter" star Kaley Cuoco.
Budgeted at less than $5 million, "Hollow" is described as a present-
day retelling of "Sleepy Hollow" set in a small New England town
where a group of high school seniors learn that they are the direct
descendants of those responsible for a tragic event that begins to
replay itself. No director is set for the film.
Carter, who said he has spent a lot of time searching for the right
film part, plays a high school jock and captain of the football team
in a role that he describes as a "hormonal brute with a bit of
a 'tude."
"It couldn't have been more perfect for what I was looking to achieve
in making the move into acting," Carter said. "I didn't want it to be
something that felt fake or just not right. The role itself is
perfect. It's not too much; it's just enough to show people that I
can do it."
Rounding out the cast alongside Carter and Cuoco are Nick Turturro,
Judge Reinhold, Kevin Zegers, Joseph Masiello, Eileen Brennan, Stacy
Keach and Melissa Schuman, the latter having had a brush with pop
fame as part of the girl group Dream.