THERE’S a buzz about west Dorset as film directors move in to transform a coastal community into an 1840s set for a new Hollywood blockbuster about Mary Anning.

Stars have reportedly been spotted in Lyme Regis ahead of filming for Ammonite, featuring Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, below.

Dorset Echo:

The film will reportedly follow a fictitious relationship between the famous fossil hunter and another woman.

Set construction is well underway, with scaffolding around Bell Cliff and Cobb Gate.

Producers have closed a section of the pavement from the Seasalt shop down to the steps leading to Cobb Gate car park to pedestrians.

This will allow the film crew to build a two-storey fake Georgian house front outside the Seasalt shop and install a fake stone wall in front of the bus shelter above Cobb Gate car park.

Filming is due to start early next week and will take place along the harbour, Cobb and Monmouth Beach.

The film has been described as 'fantastic' for the area and Lyme Regis town councillor Jeff Scowen, tourism committee member, hopes it will 'put Lyme on the map' and 'do for Lyme what Broadchurch did for West Bay.'

Producers have submitted requests to Dorset County Council to use the highways, possibly remove three street lamps and to book the four parking spaces below Seasalt to operate a stop/go traffic management system.

They have ensured any work done to any of the buildings will be temporary, non-destructive and returned to ‘as-found’ condition.

Dorset Echo:

Picture: DARYL TURNER

The film, developed by See-Saw Films, the British Film Institute and BBC Films and written and directed by Francis Lee, will be set in 1840s England and follow Anning as she becomes a nursemaid for a wealthy woman from London.

The film's plot has received mixed reaction, with some trepidation the focus on Anning’s relationships will override her scientific achievements and others praising the exploration of her sexuality.

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.