Shekhar Kapur fires up the Larklight

As well as taking over the director’s chair for tragically deceased friend Anthony Minghella’s contribution to vignette film New York, I Love You, Elizabeth helmer has added another sweeping historical epic to his development library.

This one, though, is a little different – Larklight is an alternative-Earth tale of humans who have been exploring space since Isaac Newton’s time. Two Victorian kids must band together with pirates to save the world from a megalomaniacal loony bent on destroying it.

"It's a $200 million project, probably the most expensive film I've made and will ever make," Kapur gabbed to the Indo-Asian News Service this weekend. Philip Reeve wrote the book, and Eastern Promises scribe Steve Knight is adapting it.

The Hollywood Reporter has exploded into space for the story .