Carla Gugino scratches "Witch" itch

By Gregg Goldstein

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Carla Gugino will play the female lead opposite Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in "Race to Witch Mountain," Disney's reimagining of its 1975 tween thriller "Escape to Witch Mountain."

Actor-director Garry Marshall also will star.

In Andy Fickman's feature, Gugino will play a discredited astrophysicist and UFO expert who meets up with a Las Vegas cab driver (Johnson). He asks for her extraterrestrial expertise to help a pair of psychic siblings escape the clutches of evil men and save the human race from impending doom.

Marshall plays a government and UFO conspiracy theorist/fringe scientist who helps them in their quest. Alexander Ludwig and AnnaSophia Robb play the siblings.

Shooting begins this month in Los Angeles.

Gugino recently nabbed the romantic lead opposite Robert De Niro in the thriller "Righteous Kill" and will play Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre in the superhero flick "Watchmen."

"Pretty Woman" director Marshall has showcased his menschy appeal as the voice of Buck Cluck in "Chicken Little" and in numerous supporting roles for decades.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter