MUMBAI: Orson Welles is set to appear posthumously in a film. A rare recording, recently discovered has the filmmaker narrating a children‘s Christmas novel, is being used as the basis of a film.

The film is being produced by Drac Studios, known as a special effects and makeup studio for movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It has now moved into full-fledged production.

Drac is developing Christmas Tails, a 3D live-action/CG hybrid film to be directed by Todd Tucker and narrated by Welles who expired in 1985.

Said Drac president Harvey Lowry, "It‘s a movie about how Santa‘s dog saves Christmas, but on one level, this a story about the discovery of Orson‘s lost tapes. This is a substantial find. It‘s something that a filmmaker dreams of."

More than 25 years ago, author Robert X. Leed self-published a book titled Christmas Tails and in 1985 got his friend, the legendary Welles, to narrate it making five reel-to-reel recordings.

The filmmaker passed away a few months later, and apart from Leed making the occasional copy of a reel to pass along with his book, the recordings stayed on a shelf in a closet of his Las Vegas home.