Director Peter Jackson has announced that two young local girls will star in his up-coming feature film The Lovely Bones.
The movie is due to start shooting later this year, when the two Kiwi unknowns will be rubbing shoulders with an impressive list of Hollywood's elite already cast for Jackson's next big movie.
The Lovely Bones is the story of a young girl who is murdered, then watches her family grieve from heaven.
Rose McIver from Rude Awakenings and Maddigan's Quest will play Lindsey, the younger sister of murdered character Susie Salmon.
Newcomer Carolyn Dando will play Susie's classmate Ruth.
They join a stellar cast of Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Ryan Gosling, Stanley Tucci and Michael Imperiol from The Sopranos.
Jackson says they looked all over the world for the characters but found that the best actor for each role happened to be a young kiwi. He says their casting proves the great depth of acting talent in New Zealand.
Carolyn Dando is an actress and waitress from Auckland.
"I was sort of walking on a cloud. Probably not many of our customers got very good service from me that night," she says.
Rose McIver says she received a text message in Berlin with the news she had the role.
The 18 year olds have done what hundreds of other hopefuls around the world weren't able to - land key roles in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones. If his previous efforts are anything to go by, that's big screen big time.
Shooting for The Lovely Bones will not start until October with an international release date next year at the earliest.
So the young actresses will have plenty of time to come to grips with their new status as international film stars.