Billy Liar - the classic film that put Bradford on the world movie map - is to be revived for another big screen outing.

The rights to the 1963 film starring Tom Courtenay as Billy Fisher, an idle dreamer who lies his way through a mundane life, have been snapped up by an American production company eager to recreate the success of John Schlesinger's original.

But film fans have struck a note of caution over the remake which will transform Billy from a hapless Bradfordian into a daydreaming American hero.

Tony Earnshaw, film programmer at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, said Hollywood's track record at remaking classic British movies did not bode well for the new Billy Liar.

He said: "I obviously don't want to do it down before we've even seen it but going by the remakes that have been flooding out of Hollywood I'm not hopeful.

"The point about Billy Liar is that it's intrinsically English - that's what makes it such a joy. It's a time capsule of small town life and small town love.

"If they are going to keep it English then maybe it's got a chance. If they are going to make it American then it will move away from the original story.

"They seem unable to differentiate between a movie that requires the remake treatment and leaving all the films that are already classics in their own right.

"These Hollywood producers sitting somewhere in Bel Air seem drawn to remaking classic films but they don't understand what makes them tick. The thing about Billy Liar is that it was written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, two men who were from around here and who knew the region and the people who lived here. They knew what Bradford in the 1950s was like and they understood the character.

"My feeling is that it will be Americanised to the extent where the intimacy and the emotion of the story will be lost. Billy will probably become a car park attendant in downtown Los Angeles.

"I fear it will barely resemble the film we know and love."

But Paul Kaufman, the English-born producer of the movie, pledged his version would stay faithful to the spirit of the original.

He said: "Yes, we are doing a remake of Billy Liar. It will be a contemporary version set in the US. We respect the original film and hope to keep its integrity."

Mr Kaufman added that cameras were due to start rolling on the project some time next summer but denied rumours that Trainspotting star Johnny Lee Miller had been lined up to reprise Courtenay's role as Billy saying, "I've never heard of him."

In a statement released to the Hollywood Reporter this week Artisan Pictures, the company behind the remake, announced it had lined up one of Tinseltown's most sought after writers, Will Rokos, to pen the script for an updated version of the film which was shot on location around Bradford and Baildon.

Rokos was nominated for an Oscar earlier this week for writing Monster's Ball - the film which hit the headlines when its star Halle Berry scooped the Academy Award.

Artisan Chief Executive Officer, Bob Cooper, said: "Will is a screenwriter with the ability to create unique dialogue and situations that work to engage the audience and move them to feel for a film's characters.

"Remaking this film with Will's writing continues Artisan Pictures mandate to engage strong writing in support of good ideas, and we are excited to be working with him."

The Billy Liar announcement follows a recent rash of decisions to remake old British movies with an American flavour.

It was also revealed this week that a new big-budget version of the classic caper movie The Italian Job is in the works while Artisan are also to remake the British chiller The Wicker Man with Nicholas Cage.