Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of Amélie and last year's A Very Long Engagement, is to direct the adaptation of Yann Martel's Booker-Prize-winning bestseller, Life of Pi.

Jeunet has begun writing a script with his long-time collaborator Guillaume Laurant, according to the trade magazine Variety. The novel tells the tale of a boy stuck on a lifeboat with a tiger, an orang-utan, a zebra and a hyena.

The French director is replacing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban's Alfonso Cuarón who had been in talks to head the project in April.

Before Cuarón, M Night Shyamalan was attached to direct but jumped ship to work on Lady in the Water, a fantasy thriller about a siren found in a swimming pool.

Fox 2000 President Elizabeth Gabler said: "We bought the book three years ago, and so many film-makers were passionate about it, but we felt a responsibility to the material and Yann Martel to wait for the right one at the right time.

"We had the most amazing meeting with Jean-Pierre, one of those instances where he verbalised the things I had in my head, and every hope of what this movie could become," she added.

The studio hopes to start shooting next summer, partly on location in India.