Still early in its casting process, Steven Spielberg's Robopocalypse now has a lead actress in the shape of Anne Hathaway. Recently linked with the blockbuster - now firmly in pre-production even as Spielberg attends to his Lincoln publicity duties - Hathaway has officially confirmed her involvement in the movie.

"If Robopocalypse happens I will be in it," she tells Empire, "and I believe it’s quite real, though you never want to hang your hat on anything."

Keeping mum on her character ("I'm back in Secretville"), Hathaway elaborated on the allure of the project. "Whenever I’m taking time off, I always joke to my team that I’m on vacation unless Steven Spielberg calls. And I was on vacation and Spielberg called. So I was like, ‘OK, put my money where my mouth is’."

If you're familiar with Daniel H. Wilson's sci-fi novel, you'll know that there are only two substantial adult female characters on the page - a US senator and a grunt - although it's thought that Drew Goddard's script will deviate significantly from the source material. What we do know if that when humanity wakes up to a robot revolution orchestrated by a malevolent artificial intelligence known as 'Archos', things turn War Of The Worlds very quickly indeed.

Hathaway joins humanity's last hope against the robotic overlords alongside Ben Whishaw and possibly Chris Hemsworth, a trifecta that could, all being well, boast Q, Thor and Catwoman. Hey, it's not Arnie, but it's a start.

Robopocalypse is scheduled for an early 2013 start. Watch this space for more soon.