Sam Mendes is in talks to direct a live-action adaptation of Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach.

According to Deadline, the Oscar-winning director of American Beauty is a favourite for the project being developed at Disney. The script has been written by Nick Hornby, whose recent film credits include Brooklyn and Wild.

The film would join the studio’s long slate of live-action takes on their animated films after Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and Pete’s Dragon, with Beauty and the Beast and Peter Pan on the way. The original adaptation was released in 1996 and featured the voices of Susan Sarandon, Simon Callow and Joanna Lumley.

The news follows an underwhelming result at the box office for Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The BFG, which made $53m (£40m) in the US from a $140m budget.

Mendes’s most recent credits are the Bond thrillers Skyfall and Spectre. In May, he recently announced that he will not be making any more films in the franchise. “It was an incredible adventure, I loved every second of it,” he said. “But I think it’s time for somebody else”.