Deadline is reporting that Chloe Moretz has been cast as Emily the Strange, the popular counter-culture character created by Rob Reger. While the film will be based on the Dark Horse comic, Emily was first created to promote a clothing line before turning into a merchandising beast of its own, catering to faux-gothy kids that spend their parent’s money at Hot Topic. It’s somewhat telling that a search for Emily the Strange on google brings up the clothing line before anything.

The film has sure taken its time in development- we last heard of the script being written for it back in 2005- but it was likely a smart decision to wait for the young actress.

“When I first met Chloe I knew I found my Emily,” Reger said. “She really identifies and understands the character, and has what it takes to bring her to life.”

Reger will be executive producing alongside Keith Goldberg, with Dark Horse’s Mike Richardson producing.

Fun and frightening fact! There are four Emily the Strange stores across the world (in Taiwan, Taipei, Hong Kong and Greece) and they’re going to be descending on the Americas sometime in the near future.