Shauna Cross to pen 'If I Stay'

Writer set for Catherine Hardwicke pic

By DAVE MCNARY

Shauna Cross will write Summit Entertainment’s fantasy-drama “If I Stay,” to which “Twilight” helmer Catherine Hardwicke has been attached to direct.

“If I Stay” will be based on Gayle Forman’s novel of the same name, which was published last month by Dutton Children’s Books. Story centers on a gifted classical musician who’s forced to choose between life and death when she’s in a car accident with her family.

Cross penned the screenplay for “Whip It!,” starring Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis and Marcia Gay Harden and scheduled for release later this year. She also wrote “Live Nude Girls Unite!,” based on the documentary of the same name and is currently writing the “Untitled Ellen Barkin Project” for HBO.