Update: Today (2 Feb 2010) Troye confirmed the news in a new video. Watch it here: twitvid.com/DAAAF

Today (29 Jan 2010) Troye Sivan let the huge news slip on his official Twitter account. http://twitter.com/troyesivan18 The post promised big news and featured a link to a twitvid. The video announced his signing on as the lead of Spud. Just moments later, the video and the post were deleted.

This is fantastic news.  Casting an unknown actor would have been an extreme risk, but casting an up and coming talent who can sing, and has proved himself a great actor, is a smart move. You can see Troye as Young Logan (Hugh Jackman’s character at 12 years old) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Predictably there will be an argument over casting international actors over South African actors, but if the producers want this movie to do well overseas they need star power and talent. Don’t panic, most of the cast will be South African. The Spud pre-production crew are still undergoing an extensive talent search across South Africa to find the best possible cast.

It’s worth noting, Troye was born in South Africa before his family moved to Perth, Australia