A lost screenplay by the late John Huston has been unearthed by the director's son, and is set finally to make it onto the big screen.

Amparo, about a burned-out screenwriter, will be directed by the legendary film-maker's son, Danny Huston, who also has "polished up" the script. The project is about a screenwriter with writer's block, who heads for Mexico to get his creative juices flowing again. While there, he falls in love with a latina prostitute - Amparo.

"It was literally a discovery I made in one of his trunks," Huston told The Hollywood Reporter. "I'm terribly excited to make it. It's got a lot of potential. If there was ever a man who could weave a good yarn, it was my father."

One of the 20th century's greatest directors, John Huston's best known films include The Treasure of Sierra Madre (for which he received Best Director and Best Screenplay Oscars), The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen and Prizzi's Honour.

Huston said he is looking to cast an unknown actress in the title role, while seeking a more established star for the role of the writer.

Amparo will be filmed in Manzanillo, a small town in central Mexico near the Pacific coast location of Puerto Vallarta, where John Huston had a home and filmed 1964's The Night of the Iguana.

Huston, whose directing experience comes primarily from TV movies, admitted that his father's unfinished screenplay project will bring with it difficulties, but hopes that the old man will be there with him, somehow.

"There are some scenes he has written that will be very difficult to achieve, but hopefully I can look up to the stars and have [my father] give me an occasional helping hand," he said.