Image copyright PA/Getty Images Image caption Jack O'Connell (right) will provide 'an intimate portrait' of Alexander McQueen

Actor Jack O'Connell is to play Alexander McQueen in a biopic of the late fashion designer's life.

O'Connell is known for films including Unbroken, Starred Up and '71. Most recently, Jodie Foster cast him in her thriller Money Monster.

The unnamed film will be based on Andrew Wilson's 2015 biography of McQueen, Blood Beneath The Skin.

McQueen, one of the UK's most celebrated and influential designers, died in 2010 at the age of 40.

He killed himself at his London home on the eve of his mother's funeral.

'Visionary genius'

The film, announced by Pathe, will be set in the months leading up to a 2009 fashion show in which he re-worked his designs from the previous 15 years.

"It was a show that he dedicated to his mother and one in which he tried to make sense of his life and art," a statement from Pathe said.

"The film explores McQueen's creative process in the months leading up to the show, providing an intimate portrait of the man behind the global brand - a moving celebration of a visionary genius whose designs transcended fashion to become art."

The movie will be directed by Andrew Haigh, who has previously made 45 Years and Weekend, with a script by Chris Urch. Filming will start next spring.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram, or if you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.