Angelina Jolie, famous for playing cyber warrior Lara Croft, will be back in north Wales next month to star in a new production with Vanessa Redgrave.

The Tomb Raider heroine and UK co-star Redgrave will arrive in Snowdonia mid-February for a week of filming on the set of the British movie, The Fever.

Vanessa Redgrave co-stars in The Fever

Last used as a double for rural China, this time the region will stand-in for eastern Europe for a small London-based production company.

During the filming of the Tomb Raider sequel last September, Jolie, whose adopted son Maddox accompanied her, said she had been "enchanted" with the scenery of Snowdonia and vowed to return.

But the Hollywood actress' return has come within just six months and is being seen as another sign of the growing reputation of the region as a movie backdrop.

Carwyn Edwards from the North Wales Film Commission said: "I spoke to the producer last night.

"They will be arriving here mid-February and look forward to start shooting here.

Local facilities

"Like Tomb Raider, they will probably use local people as extras and draw on local facilities.

He added: "It is a British film company, but with eastern Europe as the movie's backdrop, who knows, it could be the next Doctor Zhivago!"

Mr Edwards explained it was not a coincidence she was filming here so soon after the Hollywood blockbuster.

"Many of the 120 film crew on Tomb Raider II were Oscar-winning camera men and sound engineers and word gets around in the film industry," he said.

"The location manager on this film also worked on Tomb Raider and the director has been to north Wales on holidays."

Who knows, it could be the next Doctor Zhivago! Carwyn Edwards, North Wales Film Commission

It is believed that filming will take place at Penmon on Anglesey and Pen-y-Pas near Llanberis.

"The filming of Tomb Raider II had a lot of coverage in Hollywood publications like the Los Angeles Times," said Mr Edwards.

"Since First Knight with Richard Gere and Sean Connery was shot at Trawsfynydd in 1994 the area has grown in reputation and welcoming this film here is just the icing on top of the cake."

Paramount Pictures' Lara Croft and the Cradle of Life:Tomb Raider II will be released in the summer and it is understood there are negotiations under way to attract the film's premi�re to north Wales.