AceShowbiz - Filmmaker Ridley Scott is teaming up with Amy documentarian Asif Kapadia for an adaptation of top non-fiction book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.

The 2011 international bestseller by Israeli professor Yuval Noah Harari chronicles the evolution of the human race, from prehistoric times to present day - and details how humans came to dominate the planet.

It's not yet known whether the project will be for TV or film, but Oscar winner Kapadia will direct the screen adaptation, with Scott serving as producer.

The Alien director reveals the collaboration has been years in the making, after viewing Kapadia's debut release, crime drama The Warrior, in 2001.

"For years Asif and I have been looking for a project to collaborate on (and Sapiens) has all the elements to be massively entertaining as well as historically important," he tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Kapadia adds in a statement, "It is a book that changes how you see the world and our adaptation should do the same, to serve as a wake-up call for who we are, where we have come from and where we are heading".

Kapadia won the Best Documentary - Feature Oscar for Amy in 2016. The film explored the rise and fall of tragic British soul star Amy Winehouse, who died from accidental alcohol poisoning in 2011, aged 27.