Oscar-winning 'Lord of the Rings' director Peter Jackson has announced that he will remake classic war film 'The Dam Busters'.
He told industry trade paper Screen Daily that he will produce the film, which will be directed by Christian Rivers who has worked with Jackson for more than 17 years.
Based on a book by Paul Brickhill, the 1954 original film starred Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd, and told the true story of how Britain developed bouncing bombs that destroyed German dams in World War II.
At the time many details of the bombing mission were still classified.
"It has since been declassified by the British government, making the dynamics of the story and the people involved even more intriguing," Jackson said.
"That, combined with our ability to harness state-of-the-art computer-generated visual effects, will enable us to bring the events of these desperate days of 1943 to life in a very visceral way," he added.
Weta Digital and Weta Workshop, the New Zealand-based companies set up by Jackson to provide visual effects and animation for 'The Lord of the Rings' and for his 'King Kong' remake will work on visual effects and miniatures for the production which has a budget of NZ$78m (€39m).
Filming is expected to start next year.
