Hilary Swank

Acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair has signed on to join Hillary Swank in the mysterious biopic 'Amelia'.

Swank will portray noted American aviatrix Amelia Earhart in the movie.

The film was earlier to be helmed by Phil Noyce of 'Catch A Fire' fame, but he later dropped out.

Besides being an aviation pioneer, Earhart was also known as an author and women's rights advocate. She disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937.

Nair recently adapted Pulitzer prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri's novel 'The Namesake' into a movie, released in March 2007.