The new Helen of Troy?

British actress Claire Forlani has been tipped for the role - but so have Milla Jovovich, Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, Catherine Zeta Jones and Julia Roberts.

Brad Pitt flew into London this week to prepare for his part as Achilles.

Helen of Troy's lover, Paris, has also been picked. He is 26-year-old British actor Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas Greenleaf in Lord of the Rings.

But, with filming to start next month, speculation is mounting about who will play the legendary queen who claimed Paris' heart and started a ten-year war.

One film columnist said the actress would have to be '20 on a scale of one to ten'.

'She has to be believable as the face that launched 1,000 ships and caused the Greeks to go against Troy,' said directorWolfgang Petersen.

'She has to be that beautiful.' The film, Troy, is based on the mammoth Greek poem The Iliad. It tells the tales of the Trojan War, which kicked off after Helen, the queen of Sparta, fell in love with Paris, Prince of Troy.

British actress Claire Forlani may not have launched a fleet of boats. But the Twickenham-born actress did shoot to fame as the face of L'Oreal and starred opposite Pitt in Meet Joe Black. Warner Bros was giving nothing away this week other than to say it has yet to find an actress for the role.

But the studio has not set itself an impossible task. Helen has been cast before, in 1955, when Rossana Podesta was picked for the lead in Robert Wise's Helen of Troy.

And Edy Vessel played Helen in the 1962 Italian production The Trojan Horse.