Harry Potter Star Daniel Radcliffe to Play Sebastian Coe in Biopic

Daniel Radcliffe has been lined up to play four-time Olympic gold medallist Sebastian Coe in a biopic.

According to Screen Daily, the 24-year-old actor will reunite with The Woman in Black director James Watkins to take on the role in Gold.

The drama will charter Coe's ups and downs in the years leading up to the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and focus on his rivalry with fellow athlete Steve Ovett.

It is based on The Perfect Distance, a book about the rivalry written by athletics correspondent Pat Butcher.

Following his retirement from athletics, Coe went on to be a Conservative MP. He was made a peer in 2000 and was chairman of the London 2012 Olympics organisers.

Slumdog Millionaire's Oscar-winning writer Simon Beaufoy co-wrote the script.

Shooting is scheduled to start in April in the UK and Russia.

Radcliffe, who is best known for playing Harry Potter in the Hogwarts franchise, will next appear on screen in Kill Your Darlings. He plays eccentric beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

Kill Your Darlings will be released in the UK on 6 December.