Rosemarie DeWitt has signed on to play the female lead in MGM and Fox 2000's horror remake Poltergeist. The search for a male lead is currently under way.

We first reported on the project back in February 2011, when MGM announced a spate of potential remakes and other projects, after the studio came out of bankruptcy. Back in March, we reported that Monster House filmmaker Gil Kenan is directing, from a screenplay provided by David Lindsay-Abaire (Oz: The Great and Powerful, Rise of the Guardians). No story details have been given for the remake, which is being produced by Sam Raimi and Nathan Kahane.

The original Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hooper from a screenplay by Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais, and Mark Victor, was released in 1982, and centered on a family haunted by ghosts, trying to reclaim control of their daughter, who has been taken to the spirit world by malevolent spirits. Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, and Dominique Dunne starred in the thriller.

Rosemarie DeWitt most recently starred in Promised Land and Touchy Feely. The actress signed on for the female lead in Kill the Messenger last month.