THE director of a hit Hollywood film is to scour the North-East for his next star.

Peter Howitt, who wrote and directed the 1998 blockbuster romance Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah, is holding auditions for the leading role of a new movie called The Other Half.

The film is to be shot in Newcastle and France in the summer and tells the story of Steph, a 19-year-old girl from South Shields who decides life is too predictable and responds to an advert to pick grapes in Bordeaux.

Auditions are to be held with Newcastle-based producer Richard Johns, co-producer of the Oscar-nominated film Shadow of the Vampire, in Newcastle on Saturday January 25.

John said: "This is a phenomenal opportunity for one young woman in the region. She's out there somewhere right now, and the really exciting thing is we don't know who she is, and neither does she, yet. It may be someone who has never even considered acting before now." Peter Howitt said they were taking an extraordinary step by using such methods to find their leading lady.

He said: "It is an unprecedented step to fill such a leading role in this way, it's very exciting to think of who we might discover."

Auditions for the role of Steph will held between 9am and 1pm and 2pm and 7pm at Tyne Tees Television's studio on City Road in Newcastle on Saturday January 25.