The one person you’d never have guessed in a million, make that a billion years, to jump on the 3D bandwagon is St. Martin Scorsese. Or that he’d direct a kid’s movie. But stand back, because he’s doing both! The American filmmaker will devote the next year or so of his life to The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The film is being shot with 3D cameras rather than having a post-production conversion, too.

Collider report the script has been written by John Logan and will star Sacha Baron Cohen, Chloe Moretz, Ben Kingsley and Asa Butterfield. No doubt “name” actors will be joining them. The story is centred on a young lad who lives in a Parisian metro.

Here’s the book’s synopsis to get you up-to-date:

ORPHAN, CLOCK KEEPER, AND THIEF, twelve-year-old Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric girl and the owner of a small toy booth in the train station, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message all come together… in The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is set for a December 2011 release and his based on the award-winning novel by Brian Selznick.