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Bryce Dallas Howard

Bryce Dallas Howard is in talks to join the cast of Pete's Dragon, Disney's remake of its 1977 classic children's movie.

The cast so far includes relative newcomers Oakes Fegley (Boardwalk Empire) as Pete and Oona Laurence, who won a Tony for Broadway's Matilda, as well as screen icon Robert Redford.

David Lowery is directing the feature, which will shoot in New Zealand. Jim Whitaker is producing.

While the original was set in a fishing village at the turn of the 20th century, the new story is set against the backdrop of loggers cutting down a forest. Pete is a boy whose parents died in a car crash and who has been subsequently raised by Elliot, the titular dragon that resides in the threatened forest.

Howard will play a forest ranger who finds the boy and doesn't believe his stories about a dragon ... at first.

Howard next appears in Jurassic World, which Universal releases on June 12, 2015.