'True Grit' Star Hailee Steinfeld Is About to Be 'Forgotten'

In a matter of weeks, "True Grit" went from being a late-season Oscar possibility to an enormous breakout hit (it stands at $161 million at the domestic box office), and everyone's benefitting from it.

Producer Megan Ellison is already using her success to leverage new projects for Paul Thomas Anderson, John Hillcoat, and Andrew Dominik, and the film has landed Oscar nominations for writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen, Jeff Bridges, cinematographer Roger Deakins, and Hailee Steinfeld, who has made the most of her big opportunity.

While Steinfeld has been nominated in the supporting category for a lead performance, it's unlikely that anyone will mistake her position in the upcoming film "Forgotten."

Paramount Pictures, which distributed "True Grit," is eager to form a relationship with the young actress, and has acquired the rights for the forthcoming teen sci-fi book as a starring vehicle for her.

Steinfeld will play London Lane, a 16-year-old whose memory is erased every night at 4:33 (one would presume that's A.M.), and when she wakes up, the only memories she has are of her future.

When she meets a new boy at school, there's instant trouble, and not the usual kind 16-year-olds find themselves in after meeting a new boy - she can't see him in the future. Mystery and intrigue, I'm certain, will follow.

Steinfeld's performance in "True Grit" really is all that and a bag of chips, but I suppose a teen franchise was the most likely path her career would take from there. Here's hoping there's more to the story than it sounds, or that she's able to balance her success by stretching her acting chops in other projects.