James Cameron's Midway set for Oscar glory

Titanic director James Cameron has announced that his next project will be a radical reinterpretation of the Battle of Midway.

The $274 million project focuses on the story of the ill-fated aircraft carrier Akagi, one of four similar Japanese vessels sunk during the naval encounter on 4 June 1942.

Cameron (known as "Jim" to his friends) is said to have become obsessed with the idea of telling the Akagi story after learning the ship took an impressive 11 hours to sink after being struck by bombs from US aircraft. "The Titanic took a mere four hours to sink," confirmed an insider. "Jim realised that the Akagi's agony was the ideal opportunity to develop his favourite theme of ill-fated below-decks forbidden romance set against a backdrop of human folly and suffering."

Indeed, the blockbuster will centre on the relationship between humble Taiwanese weapons loader Mai Lai (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) and socially-advantaged fighter pilot Blimi Fujistu-Siemens (an impressive debut by Pop Idol winner Will Young).

Although exact details of the plot are a jealously-guarded secret, sources close to "J" (as Cameron is known to his closest investors) have confirmed that there will be much suggestive polishing of torpedoes in the hours leading up to the disaster.

What producers can confirm, however, is that Cameron will apply the same attention to historical detail to Midway as he did to Titanic. "Historians will be amazed," enthused one Hollywood producer. "The scene where al-Qaeda kamikaze pilots crash an airliner on to the deck of the USS Yorktown is exactly as it happened — right down to Bruce Willis' vest-clad attempt to wrest the controls from Osama bin Laden."

And while Paltrow and Young are consummating their forbidden lust among the blazing wreckage on Akagi's flight deck, US special forces fight their way to the heart of the stricken ship in a desperate attempt to secure the vessel's Enigma code machine which will enable them to crack the Soviet Union's secret cipher and win the war in two weeks. "Those British Redcoats put up one hell of a fight," quipped Whoopi Goldberg, who plays CIA operative "Black Panther".

Goldberg's contribution to the film is considered a major turning-point for African-American actors. Goldberg, who is alternatively described in Britain as "black", told The Rockall Times: "This is a great moment for my race. Only now has our contribution to the defeat of British imperialism in the Pacific Seas around Ireland been fully recognised."

Shooting on Midway will wrap in May when the final scenes of combined US-Japanese forces flushing the last Vietcong from the caves of Iwo Jima have been completed.

So, what of Paltrow and Young? "Oh, they're both eaten by sharks after the ship sinks," said Cameron.

Midway is released on September Eleventh.