Gossip Girl hunk Chace Crawford will star in the remake of 80s cult movie Footloose after Zach Efron dropped out.

Movie bosses have confirmed Crawford has landed the lead role of Ren McCormack, made famous by Kevin Bacon in the 1984 original.

A Paramount Pictures spokesman told Us magazine: “Chace Crawford will play the lead role of Ren McCormack in the film Footloose.

Crawford had been in contract negotiations but was struggling to make filming work around his Gossip Girl schedule.

High School Musical heart-throb Efron was set for the part but pulled out after deciding against doing another musical film so early in his career.

He said: “I want to grow a bit with the types of movies I want to make.

“It was more along the lines that I was looking for a new challenge, and this was another musical.”

Footloose is set to begin shooting in March next year, with Heroes babe Hayden Panettiere among the stars who have recently auditioned for the movie.

Source: Splash News

Julia Roberts said she never felt the pressure to be thin when she first started out as an actress.

The 41-year-old is currently promoting her new film Fireflies In The Garden and admitted that she feels sad for new actors and actresses.

She said: “Maybe there’s more pressure now for young girls to be slim. That never happened to me – we didn’t deal with that when I was starting out, or at that age.”

The Pretty Woman star added: “I mean, I’ve pretty much always looked the same, no matter how much I tried.

“Besides, I could never be like that because I like food too much.”

Source: Splash News