A NEW star-studded film based on Mary Anning is expected to start production next year.

Hollywood actresses Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan will star in Ammonite, which reportedly follows a fictitious relationship between the famous fossil hunter and another woman.

It is not yet known which characters the stars will play.

The film will be set in 1840s England and follow Anning as she becomes a nursemaid for a wealthy woman from London, reports entertainment site Deadline.

The historical drama has been developed by See-Saw Films, the British Film Institute and BBC Films and will be written and directed by Francis Lee.

Lee is best known for his 2017 film, God’s Own Country, a story about the gay relationship between a Yorkshire farmer and a migrant worker from Romania.

Ronan recently appeared in an adaptation of Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach, filmed on location here in Dorset.

A pioneering palaeontologist years ahead of her time, Anning was the first to discover the ichthyosaur, a complete skeleton of a plesiosaur and the first pterosaur (pterodactyl) outside Germany.

But the scientific community was reluctant to recognise her achievements and men would take credit for her work.

There have been growing calls to acknowledge Anning’s achievements and contributions to science; earlier this month, the News reported she has been nominated to appear on the new £50 note.

And campaign Mary Anning Rocks, fronted by 10-year-old Lyme resident Evie Swire, seeking to erect a statue of the fossil hunter in the town was launched earlier this year.

But news of the new film has received mixed reaction locally and on social media, with some claiming the focus on Anning’s relationships overrides her scientific achievements and others praising the exploration of her sexuality.

Anya Pearson, mum to Evie and Mary Anning Rocks campaigner, said: “There’s lots of debate about this. [Lee] is a down-to-earth, working class filmmaker and I think he's great. I just hope it’s done sensitively otherwise it's another example of her amazing achievements being overlooked by sex.

"If Mary Anning was gay I would be over the moon. She was a working class woman in the Victorian era fighting to be heard by men; if there is proof she was gay as well, that would be amazing and I would love that, but there is no proof. Will this detract from what she achieved?"

Production of Ammonite is expected to start in March and it is hoped filming will take place in Lyme.

The town last hit the big screen in an adaptation of John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman, released in 1981.

The blockbuster – starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons – was adapted by Harold Pinter and later nominated for five Academy Awards.

See-Saw Films and representatives for Lee have been contacted for comment.