It is not the full-scale replica of a Lancaster bomber nor the special effects that are causing problems for the makers of a multimillion-pound remake of the classic British war movie The Dam Busters.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson is producing the £21 million movie, to be filmed in Britain and New Zealand, and he has promised to be true to the original story.

However RAF hero Guy Gibson, head of the mission that destroyed German dams during the Second World War, had a dog called Nigger and filmmakers are now wondering whether they dare utter in N-word in 2009.

The canine with the politically incorrect name, who featured in the 1951 book The Dam Busters, was mentioned 12 times in the 1954 film starring Sir Michael Redgrave.

That film, directed by Michael Anderson, immortalised the story of one of the most daring RAF missions of the war.

RAF Squadron 617 used revolutionary "bouncing bombs" to target the dams of the Ruhr valley in May, 1943.

Executive producer Sir David Frost, who bought the rights to the book by former prisoner of war Paul Brickhill, asked actor and screenwriter Stephen Fry to come up with an alternative name for the dog but told a British newspaper last month he had rejected Fry's suggestions.

"Guy sometimes used to call his dog Nigsy, so I think that's what we will call itm," Frost said. "Stephen has been coming up with other names but this is the one I want."

Fry's official website has been inundated with posts from Britons upset that history could be so easily rewritten.

One post read: "I was very shocked to read in my local paper that the forthcoming remake ... is to omit the real name of Guy Gibson's dog (******) and replace it with 'nidge' ... Though perhaps not appropriate a name in today's society we are talking about history - which should not be tampered with ... You may well find that you will offend many veterans over this Stephen."

But the anger may be premature. A spokesman for Jackson told New Zealand newspaper The Dominion-Post this week that no decision had been made about the dog's name.

"A lot of people have said that the dog's name was Nigger and, to stay true to the story, you can't just change it. That name is talked about a lot, but we have not made any decisions yet. The script is still being written and that decision on whether we have Nigger or not will be made closer to the time," said executive assistant Matthew Dravitzki.

When the Dambusters project was announced in 2006, Jackson said: "It is not our intention to offend people. But really you are in a no-win, damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't scenario. If you change it, everyone's going to whinge and whine about political correctness. And if you don't change it, obviously you are offending a lot of people inadvertently."

Jackson said his version would be "as authentic as possible and as close to the spirit of the original as possible".

The remake will also use details of the mission which were classified at the time of the original.

Jackson has been at an aerodrome in Masterton, in New Zealand's North Island, this week testing new camera technology on a full-scale replica of a Lancaster bomber.

Production is expected to pick up pace over the next few months, but there is still no confirmation as to who has been cast in the lead roles and no confirmed start date for shooting.

Christian Rivers, the Oscar-winning animation director on Jackson's King Kong remake, will make his directorial debut on the project, renamed Dambusters.

Rivers has worked with Jackson for more than 17 years and also created computer sequences in The Lord Of The Rings films.

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