Hollywood stars such as Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson and Ewen McGregor could be heading to Bermuda if the makers of a new film to be set on the Island are successful in their casting search.

The team, hoping to make the romantic feature film "Dream Bermuda",are on the Island trying to raise cash from local businesses to make the movie, which they describe as a "golden opportunity'' to market Bermuda to a world wide audience.

At a presentation to potential investors at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute last night, director and producer Andy Jordan said he was in talks with Goldberg and British actor Ben Chapman. Other stars they would like to attract would include Jackson, McGregor, Clive Owen and Mel B of The Spice Girls.

A promotional publication for the film, states that for the American roles, the team is looking at actors of the calibre of Denzel Washington, Bermuda resident Michael Douglas, Jackson, Danny Glover, Wesley Snipes and Morgan Freeman.

The team claims agents for actors such as Robert Carlyle, Sam Neill, Keith Allen, Timothy Dalton, Andrew McCarthy, Ray Whinstone and Phil Daniels have got in touch to say these stars are interested in starring in the film.

John and Ros Hubbard, who have cast for Evita and Angela's Ashes, are listed as casting agents for the film.

Jordan and his team are in Bermuda for a week trying to drum up $7.5 million to make "Dream Bermuda", the first movie about and largely set on the Island.

If the fund-raising programme is successful, shooting will begin in Bermuda next spring with premieres in Bermuda, London and the United States in early 2002.

Mr. Jordan said: "Our film will, we really, really believe, boost the image of Bermuda around the world. We are completely confident of that. It is a beautiful, universal love story that will reach out and touch filmgoers around the world.''

The film is about an Anglo-Bermudian woman in an unhappy marriage in London who looks after her elderly Bermudian mother, whose stories of her island home form a faraway dreamscape which sustains her in her miserable life.

After her mother dies, she flies off to Bermuda to start a new life and to discover the true and tragic story of the interracial marriage of her great grandparents, a black Bermudian and the daughter of the governor.

Her husband, a London policeman, eventually comes after her in a story described as moving and uplifting.

The film is set in London, but will include three and half weeks shooting in locations all over Bermuda. Veteran Bermudian actor Earl Cameron, who featured last night in a promotional video for the film, will play a taxi driver.

Sponsorship packages ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 are available, offering companies the chance to have their products or businesses feature in the film and their staff shown at work. Companies will also be able to invest in the film.

A book on the making of the film and soundtrack featuring local music and pop stars will go on sale in what the production team hopes will be an international box office success.

In a video presentation, Graeme Mitchell of Worldview Marketing said: "This is an entirely golden opportunity to market Bermuda, its culture, businesses, history and location to a global audience in cinemas world-wide, and through media publications and the Internet.

"This is an opportunity that the government of Bermuda and business leaders should not miss. Let's grasp it.''

Mr. Mitchell's company has been involved in attracting sponsorship for the past three Bond films, as well as Leonardo Di. Caprio's "The Man in the Iron Mask", "Spice World", "Entrapment", "The Mask of Zorro", "The Grinch" and "Tomb Raider".

Veteran British actress Joanne Diaz wrote a play which forms the basis of the film while working as an entertainer on the Island in the 1970s. The play was performed in London and in Bermuda.

The "Dream Bermuda" team came to the Island for the first time in 1998 to raise money for the film, but met with little success.

They say this time they have 25 percent of the funding in place, and they invited 200 businesses to the fund-raising presentation. Around 40 people turned up last night, but it is not known if any immediately pledged to support the film.

The Department of Tourism is backing the film, although is unable to invest any cash in the project.