LOS ANGELES - Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz is to star in Peter Jackson's upcoming movieadaptation of best-selling novel "The Lovely Bones," it was reported on Tuesday.

Weisz, who scooped a best supporting actress award last year for her performance in "The Constant Gardner," will play the mother of a young girl who is abducted and feared murdered, Variety reported in its online edition.

Production on the film is set to get underway in October, Variety reported. Jackson, the Oscar-winning director of the "Lord of the Rings" movies, sparked a bidding war amongst Hollywood studios after announcing plans to adapt Alice Sebold's 2002 novel.

Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks company beat out competition from Universal, Warner Bros. and Sony to win the right to produce and release Jackson's first film since "King Kong".