Elisha Cuthbert signs on as producer and star of Jamie Babbit's Dot

Elisha Cuthbert, star of the current number 1-selling video The Girl Next Door, has committed to shoot the indie thriller Dot, which is targeting a mid-September start. Cuthbert, who will get a producer credit, will play a popular and beautiful girl in a typical middle-class family. She seems to have it all until a supposedly deaf orphan teenager comes to live with her family, sparking events that reveal her family is not at all what it seems to be. Other casting is expected to be announced shortly. The film is the first project to head before cameras from Burned Orange, a University of Texas production unit that gives students the opportunity to work alongside professionals on the set. Out film and TV director Jamie Babbit (But I'm a Cheerleader) will direct. Cuthbert, best known for her role as Kiefer Sutherland's daughter on Fox's 24, recently finished up producer Joel Silver's House of Wax remake in Australia. Her name also has recently been in the mix on several major studio projects. She's one of the actresses still in contention to play Daisy Duke in the Dukes of Hazzard film, and she has the opportunity to star in The Heartbreak Kid at DreamWorks.