Paramount Pictures will enter principal photography on The Spiderwick Chronicles, a fantasy film based on the best-selling series of books, in Montreal on September 12. Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday) will direct the film, which will star Freddie Highmore and Sarah Bolger.

In the movie, when the three Grace children -- troubled Jared; his bookish twin, Simon; and their sister, Mallory, a fencing jock -- move to the ancient Spiderwick mansion, they are at first none-too-enchanted by the rundown Victorian ... until they discover a Brownie, an enchanted creature, living in the walls. They soon find a book -- "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You" -- that will open their eyes to the invisible, odd, and sometimes dangerous world of goblins, boggarts, fairies, and sprites that is all around them. When they cross paths with the monstrous ogre Mulgarath, they realize quickly that he will stop at nothing to get his hands on the Field Guide.

Highmore will play both twins, Jared and Simon. Highmore received praise for his performances in Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and will soon appear in A Good Year for director Ridley Scott and take the lead role of August Rush for director Kirsten Sheridan.

Bolger will play Mallory. Bolger stunned audiences with her performance in the acclaimed drama In America. She will next star in Stormbreaker.

Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present a Kennedy/Marshall and a Mark Canton production, The Spiderwick Chronicles, directed by Mark Waters. The screenplay is by John Sayles, based on the books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Credits are not yet final.