Edgerton 'in talks' to star in bin Laden film

Kathmandu - Hollywood actor Joel Edgerton confirmed on Saturday he is in talks to lead a stellar cast in a film about the killing of Osama bin Laden to be directed by Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow.

The 37-year-old Australian, who starred alongside Tom Hardy in martial arts blockbuster Warrior, said no deal has been finalised but he has been in contact with Bigelow's team over a possible lead role.

"I've been involved with those guys for a long time. The thing was I was possibly going to be involved when the film was of a different incarnation, before bin Laden was killed," he told AFP.

"I still have a relationship with those guys... there's nothing definite to report. In fact I just got a ton of emails about it but all I'll say is its not necessarily untrue but it's not necessarily true."

Bigelow, who won an Academy Award for best director for The Hurt Locker in 2008, is firming up the cast for the controversial film, with Idris Elba, Guy Pearce and Hardy all also reportedly pencilled in for lead roles.

Republican politicians in the United States have voiced concerns that Barack Obama's administration leaked details about May's Navy SEALs mission to the team making the still-untitled film, slated for release in December.

Bigelow had reportedly been planning a film since 2008 about the hunt for bin Laden long before the raid on the terror kingpin's compound in northern Pakistan.

Edgerton, who starred in a prequel to sci-fi horror film The Thing last year and is due to play Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, was in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu at the end of a week-long tour of eye hospitals.

"Kathmandu is fairly chaotic as a city but I kind of love that," he told AFP. "I'm just really drawn to going to places where the culture is very different."