The Coen brothers are planning to remake the classic Ealing comedy The Ladykillers.

Disney's Touchstone Pictures brought the rights to the dark 1955 comedy seven years ago.

Barry Sonnenfeld had been planning to direct a remake, but is now planning to hand the reigns to the Coens, who will also write the script.

The new version is said to be " loosely based" on the original, which starred Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers as crooks who try to kill their indestructible elderly landlady.

Hollywood will shift the setting to America's Deep South, Variety reports.