The new film will be loosely based on the 1956 film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," the story of extraterrestrials who inhabit humans’ bodies that was also remade in a 1978 film starring Donald Sutherland - one which many critics have called superior to its 1950s predecessor.

Producers however, are loathe to acknowledge the link, insisting that the screenplay for their film is so original that one can not even speak of it being a remake, Warner Bros. said earlier this week.

Hirschbiegel is best known on the international stage for the intense claustrophobia and sense of doom he created for "Downfall," which looked at the last days of Adolf Hitler as he retired to his Berlin bunker and committed suicide at the end of World War II. But in Germany, he is equally as famous for his work on the psychological thriller "Das Experiment."

The director was an obvious choice for producer Joe Silver, who said it was the dark sense of foreboding in "Downfall" that drew him to the Hirschbiegel. For his part, Hirschbiegel has said that he considers himself a specialist in human tragedies and three-dimensional characters, and that he will bring that fine sensitivity - not special effects - to "Invasion."

Nicole Kidman, although not an obvious choice for the role of a psychiatrist who unlocks the secret behind the strange changes, is said to have bagged $16 million for her part in the film, according to "Variety."