Renowned photojournalist Don McCullin
[© C Cheesman]

Hardy will play McCullin in a drama based on an adapted version of the photographer’s autobiography Unreasonable Behaviour, reports movie website deadline.com.

According to Deadline, the movie will be produced by Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

McCullin will reportedly be one of the executive producers.

Hardy was nominated for an Oscar for 2015 film The Revenant.

Don McCullin’s UK agent had yet to respond to Amateur Photographer’s request for comment on the report.

An updated version of Unreasonable Behaviour is included in the photographer’s latest publication, Irreconcilable Truths – a £650 large-format book that celebrates the work of the veteran photojournalist.

Last month, McCullin told how he was forced to abort a mission to photograph the historic Temple of Bel in the Syrian city of Palmyra when a Russian soldier stopped him at the gates.

Speaking at Photo London, where he was Master of Photography 2016, McCullin said: ‘I’ve got to the stage in my life when I’ve been in love with photography for about 60 years and, in the end, it really takes its toll on you because people think that taking photographs [is] just “press that button and it’s all so easy”.

‘They don’t realise the stress you go through to get there… and you get disappointed, as was the case when I went to Palmyra in Syria…

‘All I wanted was to photograph the Temple of Bel, which the ISIS people have destroyed – it was the most atrocious thing to have done…

‘I actually got to the Temple and saw the door slightly open and I thought, “You lucky devil – you’ve made it”. I pushed the door – it was totally unmovable.

‘Then, I saw a gap in the wall and I thought I’ll get in there.

‘I took one frame and a Russian soldier came out of nowhere… roaring round the corner… and pushing me away saying, “No, no, go away, go away”…

‘That was it. I [had gone] all those thousands of kilometres, only to be turned away.’