The producer behind the film adaptation of Philip Reeve's novel Mortal Engines has defended her team's decision to tone down the lead character's iconic facial scarring.

In the novel, Hester is described a young woman who was left with a hideously scarred cheek, half a nose and one eye after being attacked with a sword as a child.

However, after trailers surfaced for Peter Jackson's film adaptation, viewers were left wondering why Hester Shaw (played by Hera Hilmar) was given two eyes and a far less horrific scar than previously described.

'A lot of people think it was an aesthetic choice': Mortal Engines producer has explained the REAL reason why the book's lead character's scar was reduced for screen adaptation

'A lot of people think it was an aesthetic choice, that we were too afraid to show a disfigured woman, which was absolute crap. Or that she had to be pretty, which again is absolute crap,' the film's producer and scriptwriter Philippa Boyens told the The Daily Telegraph on Sunday.

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Philippa explained that the decision to tone down the scar was a practical one, saying that Hester would have had 'issues with the way she talks' if the creative team were to follow the book's description of her face.

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'If you don't have a nose, she would not have been able to say half the lines she does,' she explained.

'If you don't have a nose, she would not have been able to say half the lines she does': Philippa explained that the decision to tone down the scar was a practical one

Rising star: Actress Hera Hilmar (pictured) plays the lead role of Hester Shaw in the upcoming flick

Mortal Engines is set in a post-apocalyptic steampunk world where cities have been mounted on moving wheels and prey upon each other like animals.

Meanwhile, a young assassin named Hester Shaw emerges as the only one who can stop the predator city of London from devouring everything in its path.

Motivated by her mother's death and the struggles of dealing with her facial disfigurement, Hester joins forces with Tom Natsworthy, an outcast from London, and Anna Fang a dangerous outlaw to fight London.

A machine-eat-machine world: Mortal Engines is set in a post-apocalyptic steampunk world where cities have been mounted on moving wheels and prey upon each other like animals

'Society has rebuilt a semblance of what it used to be, except the cities are now actually moving,' director Peter Jackson said in a press release.

'You are always looking for stories with humanity. Mortal Engines has that,' he said.

Other stars set to appear in the the film include Hugo Weaving Robert Sheehan, Jihae, Ronan Raftery, Leila George, Patrick Malahide, and Stephen Lang.

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Mortal Engines hits cinemas from December 6.