Rising star Danielle Panabaker told SCI FI Wire that she'll begin shooting Prodigy—an independent sci-fi action thriller—this summer in Spain.

"The movie takes place 40 years in the future, and it's about a high school where the kids are essentially bred to be the best of the best, you know, the smartest, the best-looking, the most talented and that kind of thing," Panabaker said in an interview Saturday in Beverly Hills, Calif., where she was promoting her upcoming movie Friday the 13th.

Panabaker will play a senator's daughter, "the love interest of the main character, played by Max Thieriot." Chuck Russell is directing from a script by Dave Kalstein, who adapted his own novel, for Intrepid Pictures.

In the film, the alumni of the school begin dying, and a rebellious student (Thieriot) teams up with an investigator to uncover what may be a massive conspiracy. (Thieriot also shot the lead role in Wes Craven's upcoming 25/8.)

"It's a big sort of action movie, ... which I'm really excited about," Panabaker adds.

Panabaker will get to do some real action in the movie, too, she says. "There's a month of fight training before we go," she says, adding: "I'm really excited to do ... an action movie, as a woman, you know. It's always fun to get to do something physical."

The movie will shoot in Valencia and Alicante in Spain, which will double for the film's Los Angeles setting. (Friday the 13th opens Feb. 13.)