Shot-for-shot remakes of classic films have not exactly been automatic hits with the critics – in fact, they united in a howl of derision when Gus van Sant unveiled his version of Hitchcock's Psycho in 1998.

But a new effort by a London-based contemporary art organisation hopes to better that fate. Its source material? Darling, John Schlesinger's classic tale of an amoral model climbing the ladder of success in swinging 60s London. The cast? Members of the public.

The remake, which will be titled Action Diana, will shoot this summer at a range of locations, including a three-day visit to Mount Stuart, a neo-gothic Victorian mansion on the Isle of Bute, off western Scotland. The plan is to then premiere the eventual film at Abandon Normal Devices, a new festival of cinema and digital culture for the north-west, which takes place in Liverpool from 23–27 September.

Schlesinger's original film won three Oscars in 1966, including best actress for a young Julie Christie. She played Diana Scott, a beautiful woman who leaves a trail of men behind her as she sleeps her way to the top of the fashion world.

The new version is being produced by The Centre of Attention, aka Anglo-French artist duo Pierre Coinde and Gary O'Dwyer. Their oeuvre includes an installation at the 2005 Venice Biennale in which visitors were invited to rehearse their own funerals by selecting a song and lying on a plinth while the piece of music played.