A RENOWNED director has been lined up to make a Hollywood film about a family who bought a zoo near Plymouth.

Cameron Crowe, who directed films such as Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky, is being linked to an adaptation of Ben Mee's book about his experiences restoring Dartmoor Zoo in Sparkwell.

Last year it was announced that Twentieth Century Fox had bought the rights to 'We Bought a Zoo', Ben's autobiographical book about his family's experiences after buying the run-down wildlife park complete with 200 animals.

Ben said: "Fox have been in touch and said Cameron Crowe has been appointed as director.

"It means they are paying attention to the project.

"He's a fairly big name with a reputation for doing sympathetic, quirky biographical stories, which is presumably what's needed here."

Ben, his mother Amelia and brother Duncan poured their own money and his late father's legacy into the run-down wildlife park in 2006.

The story also includes its share of tragedy; Ben's wife Katherine died of cancer in 2007.

The first draft of a script for the film has been written by Aline Brosh McKenna, screenwriter of The Devil Wears Prada.

Ben said: "They say this means it will be fast-tracked.

"I'm delighted and very encouraged. It's one of those things that's been going on for a long time. This is another hurdle over, but there are many more."

Ben said he had even heard unofficial rumours of a 2012 release date, although things would have to move fast for that to happen.

Ben recently set up a charity called the Friends of Dartmoor Zoo, and said Twentieth Century Fox immediately pledged to make a donation.

Ben said it had been a hard winter at the zoo, but he was looking forward to a good year.

"We are getting lots of visitors now on sunny days and we have got lots of projects to look forward to," he said.

Cameron Crowe has not directed a film since 2005, and the news that he may be involved in the 'We Bought a Zoo' project has been greeted by excitement on film websites and blogs.

James White, a journalist with Empire Online, wrote: "This is surely good news – we need new Crowe films in the world."