Alison Lohman To Replace Ellen Page In Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell

Blonds tells fewer blog jokes, it's a fact, so maybe director Sam Raimi is onto something by casting actress Alison Lohman (Beowulf, Flicka) in the lead role formerly occupied by Ellen Page (Juno) in his upcoming horror thriller Drag Me to Hell.

Oscar nominee Page aborted the project days ago amid rumors that she was unhappy with the script by Raimi and his brother Ivan Raimi. There was also the trusty rumor that Page forever hisses at her agent anytime she hears the words "how about a horror movie, Ellen" post-Academy Awards. As our pub brothers at FirstShowing have pointed out, Variety reported on Sunday that the real reason might have been, yep, "scheduling differences" after all...

"We were racing to start production so that we could accommodate Ellen's schedule," Ghost House and Mandate said in a joint statement. "But like so many other productions trying to start before the potential SAG strike date, this one needed more time, and we had to push back the start of production."

Indeed, the SAG strike is fast becoming the new "forgot my homework," or, sure, WGA strike. Lohman, who is almost 30 but looks teenish, is of Irish descent, an environmentalist and I'm sure she can belt out a scream with the best of them. But I dunno, does she have the spark, that hamburger phone aura, that Page has?

Discuss: Page versus Loh(m)an. What difference does this play in your anticipation of Drag Me to Hell?