Ol Parker is to direct disaster movie 'This Is Chance!'

The 51-year-old filmmaker is to helm an adaptation of Jon Mooallem's book 'This Is Chance!: The Shaking of an All- American City, A Voice That Held It Together'.

The book centres on an earthquakes in Alaska in 1964 and local radio reporter Genie Chance, who was credited with saving the town of Anchorage from chaos following the disaster.

The project will be developed by Concordia Studios, whose co-founder Jonathan King will produce the movie. Mooallem will serve as an executive producer on the flick with Patrick Callan overseeing development for the studio.

Parker and King have previously worked together on 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' and its sequel, 'The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel', and Jonathan believes that the 'Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again' director is the perfect choice for the movie.

He said: ''I know from our time together on the 'Marigold Hotel' movies that Ol Parker has a rare talent for understanding characters under stress and then bringing them to life with warm affection and emotional depth.''

Ol is married to 'Westworld' star Thandie Newton and their daughter Nico, 13, starred in Tim Burton's live-action remake of Disney's 'Dumbo', but Thandie admits that she wasn't keen on her kids going into acting.

She said: ''I think a lot of people desperately want their kids to get involved, and I tried to steer them away from it. Well, I obviously steered her right towards it, but I just think it's a really difficult profession. There's so much rejection, there's so much competition, especially between women. It's a really really tough place to be.''