Paul Rust Gets to Woo Hayden Panettiere

Maybe someone should tell newcomer Paul Rust that Hayden Panettiere is into older men -- the power-sucking sort that are 12 years her teen senior. But, well, geekboys can dream. However, in the upcoming comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper, the dude does a little more than just dreaming. Also, mimicking reality, Hayden plays a gal with an older guy.

Erik blogged about the movie last month when Chris Columbus was in talks to direct, and the whale saver was looking into starring. With their deals now set, Variety reports that they've cast Rust as the guy who gets to long for Beth Cooper. He'll play Denis Cooverman, the geeky valedictorian who decides that it will be a good idea to profess his love for Beth during his speech. Oh yes, there's nothing more romantic than the smart geek professing his love in front of the whole graduating senior class, their parents, the girl, and her parents. He might be book smart, but it seems like he's missing some rational smarts. Still, Erik said some great things about it, so maybe this could be fun.

That is, if they don't make HP be too love-gushy at any point. Man, I hated her romantic scenes with West in Heroes. Ick. Anyway, according to his blog, Rust heads for Vancouver next Monday to shoot the film through the end of May.