“Punks and aliens” feature from director John Cameron Mitchell [pictured] also stars Alex Sharp.

Sci-fi romance How To Talk To Girls At Parties, starring Elle Fanning (Maleficent), Tony Award-winning Alex Sharp (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) and Nicole Kidman, has begun principal photography in the UK, where it will shoot for six weeks.

Directed by John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus), the film is based on a short story by Neil Gaiman (Coraline) from his collection “Fragile Things”.

The screenplay has been written by Philippa Goslett (Little Ashes) with Mitchell. Kidman reunites with Mitchell, who directed her Oscar-nominated performance in Rabbit Hole (2010).

The cast also includes Ruth Wilson (The Affair), Matt Lucas (Bridesmaids) and Joanna Scanlan (The Invisible Woman).

The story centres on a shy teenage punk in 1970s London (Sharp) who falls for an alien girl (Fanning) whose race plans a showdown with humans.

Producers are Howard Gertler (Shortbus, World’s Greatest Dad, How to Survive a Plague) for Little Punk alongside Iain Canning and Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films (Shame, Macbeth, Lion) and Mitchell.

Kidman, Canning and other key elements were first reported by Screen during Cannes.

The creative team includes director of photography Frank DeMarco (All Is Lost, Rabbit Hole), production designer Helen Scott (The Selfish Giant, Fish Tank), costume designer Sandy Powell (Carol, Cinderella), editor Brian A. Kates (Kill your Darlings, Rabbit Hole) with original music from Nico Muhly (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Kill Your Darlings), Xiu Xiu and Matmos.

Finance comes from Film4, Screen Yorkshire’s Yorkshire Content Fund and Delish Films. HanWay Films handles international sales, with StudioCanal distributing in the UK and A24 in the US.