UK actor Nicholas Hoult starring in zombie romance

Los Angeles: Young British actor Nicholas Hoult continues his Hollywood ascent.

Hoult, one of the stars of "X-Men First Class" and who is prepping to shoot "Jack the Giant Killer," has been cast in a film described as "Twilight" meets "Shaun of the Dead." "Warm Bodies" follows an existentially-tormented zombie named R who begins an unlikely friendship with the human girlfriend of one of his victims. The blossoming relationship starts a chain reaction that will transform him, his fellow zombies and maybe the whole lifeless world. The project is based on an upcoming Simon & Schuster book by Isaac Marion. The film will be directed for "Twilight" studio Summit Entertainment by Jonathan Levin. Production is slated to begin this summer. Hoult appeared as a youngster alongside Hugh Grant in "About a Boy" and more recently as Colin Firth`s lover in "A Single Man."