Shekhar Kapur has signed on to develop and direct Larklight, a period fantasy Di Novi Pictures is producing for Warner Bros.
Kapur, who most recently directed and wrote Elizabeth: The Golden Age, is working with writer Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) to adapt Philip Reeve’s novel.
The 2006 book, set in a Victorian-era alternate universe in which mankind has been exploring the solar system since the time of Isaac Newton, revolves around a brother and sister who team with a band of renegade space pirates to save the world from destruction at the hands of a madman.
“It’s a $200 million project, probably the most expensive film I’ve made and will ever make,” Kapur said.
Denise Di Novi is producing while Alison Greenspan is executive producing.
