A hit girl indeed, Chloe Grace Moretz has big roles ahead

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ABOVE: Chloe Grace Moretz in “Texas Killing Fields.”

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Updated: November 20, 2011 8:44AM

She’s already kicked some behind. Now, Chloe Grace Moretz is taking names.

Those names are A-list and include Johnny Depp, Tim Burton and Michelle Pfeiffer, who have joined her on a weekday morning to shoot a scene from the highly anticipated film “Dark Shadows.”

Forget about these “Twilight” pretty boys.

Depp plays iconic vampire Barnabas Collins in a star-studded cast including Alice Cooper as himself and Helena Bonham Carter as a doctor. Don’t forget everyone’s favorite child actress, Moretz, who is Carolyn Stoddard.

At age 14, Moretz — best known for her role as Hit-Girl in “Kick-Ass” — is reflective about nabbing “Dark Shadows,” based on the iconic horror TV show.

“This movie is one of the most special things,” she says. And then she provides this disclaimer. “I had never heard of ‘Dark Shadows,’ but my mom says it was one of her favorite shows as a teenager. When she heard that Tim Burton wanted me to do the movie, my mom was like, ‘Stop it! OMG! I love that show. OMG!’ ”

A 14-year-old verging on 30? No, Moretz is very much 14.

Mention working with Depp and she has a meltdown. “He’s fun, amazing and plus . . . he’s just sooooo cute,” she says.

Moretz stars in two major fall films. On Friday, there’s the thriller “Texas Killing Fields,” about a series of unsolved murders in the Texas bayous and a homicide detective (Sam Worthington) who tries to solve them. Then she was handpicked by Martin Scorsese to star in his “Hugo,” opening next month.

“Texas,” she says, is a film that “changed me a lot. You learn that there are some creepy forces out there, but I’m a positive person. I can’t let it get to me.”

The more gruesome parts of the story were shielded from her on set. “They did keep some parts of the story away from me, but in all other ways they treated me like a normal actress,” she says.

“I hate being treated like a little kid!”

“Hugo” required Moretz to live in London during filming last year. The film is set in 1930s Paris and revolves around an orphan who lives in the walls of the train station, where he looks into the mystery of what happened to his late father. The cast includes Depp, Jude Law, Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer and Sacha Baron Cohen.

“It was amazing being part of a Scorsese film at age 13,” she says. “This was his first 3D movie, so it’s historical and really mind-boggling.

Her character is “a 1930s Audrey Hepburn type of role. I saw the film three days ago and I was blown away.”

And then there is that little film in the “Shadows.”

“Johnny is so phenomenal as this character. He’s so cool. He’s like the weirdness and quirkiness of Ichabod Crane in ‘Sleepy Hollow’ with Edward Scissorhands thrown in with a little bit of Sweeney Todd and the tone of ‘Beetlejuice.’

“My character is very much like Winona Ryder in ‘Beetlejuice,’ ” she previews. “I have deep, dark secrets.”

Was she nervous to work with the cast? “I mean, yeah,” she says. “I was definitely a little nervous. But Johnny is the most normal and nicest guy. Everyone opened their little circle to me.

“Even better was that Tim Burton told me to bring him my ideas,” she says. “I’m a freak. I’m weird. I brought some weird ideas that actually were brought to the screen.”

She got her acting start thanks to her brother Trevor. “He was accepted into a professional performing arts high school in New York, and I moved to New York City with my brother and mom. My dad and two other brothers stayed in Georgia.

“We left to follow a dream,” she says.

She’s home trained. “We did monologues every day at home, and I just soaked it in,” she says. “I just started reiterating everything he did. I did monologues at home and at school. I loved it so much.

“My brother started coaching me, too,” she says. “Now, he’s my acting coach and producing partner.” To that end, they have a company called Treetop Productions and just produced a film called “Hick.”

Chloe Moretz, Hollywood mogul? “I have big aspirations,” she says.

She made her TV debut in 2004 in an episode of “The Guardian,” then cut her big-screen teeth as a kid in “The Amityville Horror” (2005) and “Big Momma’s House 2” (2006). She returned to TV to play Sherri Maltby on “Desperate Housewives” from 2006 to 2007.

She’s down to earth about fame. In fact, Moretz would rather tell you how cool it is to learn math and science in school or how she has seen “Legally Blonde” about “10 zillion times.”

Yes, fame can be a bit intrusive at times. “The other night I was at a Halloween Horror Night with my friend and my brother. We were hanging out in a big group and I got off the mummy ride. This teenage guy yells, ‘Oh, Hell Girl, don’t hurt me!’

“I walked away like, ‘Oh, okkkkkkay,’ ” she says. “I love how enthusiastic people are about that movie. At the same time when I’m with my friends, it can get a bit annoying.

“But don’t get me wrong. No complaining from me! I’m really blessed. Everything else is part and parcel.”

Big Picture News Inc.