'Gossip Girl' Producers Adapting 'The Luxe' Books for the Big Screen

Be still my gossip-loving heart! According to The Hollywood Reporter  the production team behind "Gossip Girl" has been tapped to adapt the New York Times bestselling young adult book series "The Luxe" for the silver screen.

The production company Fake Empire, run by "Gossip Girl" executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, is teaming up with Alloy Entertainment to bring the film adaptation to Paramount studios. Schwartz and Savage have considerable experience adapting popular young adult novels for the screen, seeing as "Gossip Girl" began it's life as the wildly popular amoral book series by Cecily von Ziegesar.

What is "The Luxe"? It's a series of four books by author Anna Godbersen that center on the tumultuous lives and loves of four young girls in 19th century New York. Basically, it's "Gossip Girl" in the time of petticoats. One character even eventually ends up submitting stories to a newspaper's gossip column, like an olden day Gossip Girl without cell phone blasts.

The producers see the future film as a Moulin Rouge-like affair, with modern music and fashion set against the period backdrop, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

As a fan of the book series and the rich fashions of the 19th century, I'm not sure how well this is going to work. Modern music? Fine. From "The O.C." to "Gossip Girl" and "Chuck," Schwartz has shown himself to have an amazing ear for quality music. But seeing all the girls in elaborate 19th century garb is half the fun of going to a period piece in the first place. Plus, won't audiences be thrown off by such anachronisms? Still, there is possibly no better team to tackle this "Gossip Girl" meets "Age of Innocence" tale.

But the better question might be which actresses will play the four female leads in the series. The books center around good girl Elizabeth Holland, her feisty sister Diana, her scheming frenemy Penelope Hayes and her social climbing maid Lina.

Might "Community" and "Mad Men" star Alison Brie be in the running for a role? Back in November her "Community" cast mates snapped pictures on Twitter of her reading the books, to which she responded in a November 9th tweet that she was reading them "for work purposes". Although maybe a bit old for the teen roles, Brie does seem like she would be a great fit for either Penelope or Diana.

Or will "Gossip Girl" producers look closer to home? Perhaps stars Blake Lively and Leighton Meester will be tapped to continue their onscreen rivalry as Elizabeth and Penelope?

What do you think of the upcoming adaptation? Are you excited or filled with dread? Which actresses do you think are right for the roles? Play casting agent in the comments!