Valley Girl musical remake adds Parenthood star Mae Whitman

Mae Whitman (The DUFF, NBC’s Parenthood) has joined Jessica Rothe and Josh Whitehouse in Valley Girl, MGM’s totally tubular musical remake of the 1983 film starring Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman, EW can confirm.

Valley Girl focuses on Randy (Whitehouse), an edgy kid living in Hollywood, who falls for Julie (Rothe), a suburban girl from San Fernando Valley. The film helped launch Cage’s career, and a musical remake was revealed back in 2008.

Whitman is set to play a punk rocker, Randy’s lesbian best friend. In the original film, actor Cameron Dye played Fred, Randy’s best friend who crashes the Valley party where the two leading lovebirds meet. Watch the trailer for the 1983 version below.

Whitman is known for playing Amber on the series Parenthood, though she’s appeared in a few teen-driven films like The DUFF and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. She reprised her role as Marcy on the Gilmore Girls revival, and also voiced characters in animated series like Family Guy, Voltron, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series.

Valley Girl also stars Logan Paul, Jessie Ennis, Ashleigh Murray, and Chloe Bennet. Rachel Lee Goldenberg, who helmed episodes of Man Seeking Woman and Angie Tribeca, is now in the director’s chair.

Variety was the first to report the news.