GEORGE CLOONEY - CLOONEY LINES UP MAGNUM MOVIE ROLE

Hollywood heartthrob GEORGE CLOONEY will reportedly play TV private investigator MAGNUM PI in a big screen version of the 80s hit show.

Pals of the actor say Clooney is desperate to take on the role made famous on the small screen by TOM SELLECK between 1980 and 1988.

They claim the mustachioed Magnum completes a "holy trinity" of roles Clooney has secretly coveted; "He's wanted to play three characters since he started acting - DANNY OCEAN in OCEAN'S ELEVEN, HANNIBAL in the A-TEAM and Magnum.

"He's had the A-Team movie in the works for a while now, so he's been chasing this one really hard."

Hollywood sources say the film, which will begin shooting next year (04), will feature the brand new $800,000 (GBP500,000) FERRARI ENZO sports car in place of Magnum's classic Ferrari 308 GTS.

But the identities of who will play Magnum's side-kicks THEODORE 'TC' CALVIN, ORVILLE 'RICK' WRIGHT and JONATHAN QUAYLE HIGGINS III - played by ROGER E MOSLEY, LARRY MANETTI and JONATHAN HILLERMAN in the TV original - are being kept top secret.

Manetti recently slammed plans to recreate the show without its original cast as "an outrage".