War of the Worlds: Scenes for the Martian-invasion film War of the Worlds, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise, will be filmed in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, according to an area tourism official.

Jean Clark, tourism director for the Rockbridge County area, said she does not know exactly when or where the movie will be shot in the valley. But, "I know they're shooting something," she said.

Clark expects filming in the area will wrap up before the year's end.

Movie publicist Deborah Wuliger said filming is now taking place in New Jersey, and industry publication Variety reported that Spielberg is also shooting scenes in upstate New York.

Wuliger said she did not know whether any commitments have been made for Virginia. But Clark said many production support people have been in the area preparing for filming.

When scouts came to the area in September, they looked at parts of Augusta County, Staunton and Waynesboro, said Sergei Troubetzkoy, Staunton's tourism director.

Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks are financing the movie, a modern version of the H.G. Wells novel. It is scheduled for release next summer.

War of the Worlds was released June 29th, 2005 and stars Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, Rick Gonzalez, Yul Vazquez, Lenny Venito. The film is directed by Steven Spielberg.