Paul Bettany and Brendan Fraser have been confirmed to star in the screen adaptation of a children's fantasy book by Cornelia Funke.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the pair will play key characters in Inkheart, the story of a girl whose father can bring any fictional character to life by reading aloud from the book and has to call on the help of the fantasy figures when he is kidnapped.

Fraser is set to play the father, while Bettany is in talks to play a fire-eater called Dustmouth.