Computer retailer-turned-producer Ted Waitt has signed Hilary Swank to star as famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart in a biopic set to shoot in Toronto and Nova Scotia.

Waitt, an Earhart buff and founder of New York-based Avalon Pictures, commissioned Ron Bass (Snow Falling on Cedars) to pen the script based on sources including Earhart’s journal entries from her world flight attempt in the twin-engine Electra, according to executive producer Don Carmody (Skinwalkers, Silent Hill).

‘Once the first draft was involved, that’s when I became involved,’ Carmody tells Playback Daily. ‘I’ve always had a fascination with Amelia…I always remembered her plane.’

Mira Nair (The Namesake, Vanity Fair) is set to direct the ambitious indie picture. ‘Our original choice is no secret. [The Quiet American director] Phillip Noyce was involved earlier in the project,’ he adds. When that didn’t work out, it was ‘very happy happenstance’ that Shantaram, a Johnny Depp picture to be directed by Nair, fell victim to the WGA strike.

Waitt, cofounder and former chairman of online computer retailer Gateway, is producing with Kevin Hyman, formally of Focus Features. Carmody exec produces with Lydia Dean Pilcher, Nair’s producing partner.

Filming commences April 16 in Toronto for an extensive nine weeks, then two in Nova Scotia, one in Hawaii and two in South Africa. Scouting for locations is underway, with production offices set up at Cinespace in Toronto.

Swank’s role centers on Earhart’s career and relationship with her husband, George Putnam, from the 1920s till her mysterious disappearance in ’37 en route to Howland Island in the Pacific. Swank’s costar is to be announced shortly. Amelia will be released in late 2008.