Kristen Stewart lands lead role in Lie Down In Darkness

Hotlist 2012 winner Kristen Stewart has landed the lead role in Lie Down In Darkness , an adaptation of William Styron’s 1951 novel.

Stewart, who you voted Hottest Actress in this year’s Total Film Hotlist Awards , will play beautiful youngster Peyton Loftis in the film.

Suffering under the jealous loathing of her mother and the lustful advances of her alcoholic father, Peyton struggles against the twisted values of her dysfunctional family.

It’s a role that Jennifer Lawrence was campaigning hard for, but her commitments to the X-Men and Hunger Games franchises have prevented her from signing on.

And any role that Lawrence is after has got to be a good one, so this is a real coup for Stewart, who’ll be looking to establish herself as a serious actress as the Twilight films come to a close this year.

Stewart can next be seen in another '50s indie film, On The Road , which opens in cinemas on 12 October 2012.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.