HELEN MIRREN - DAME HELEN MIRREN TO PLAY MOSSAD AGENT IN NEW THRILLER

DAME HELEN MIRREN TO PLAY MOSSAD AGENT IN NEW THRILLER

Covering up the re-emergence of a Nazi war criminal will be Dame Helen Mirren's next film role, it has been reported.

The Oscar-winner is to play Rachel Singer, a former agent with the Israeli intelligence group Mossad in The Debt, a remake of Israeli thriller HaHov.

Assaf Bernstein's 2007 film told of the botched murder of a Nazi war criminal known as the Surgeon of Birkenau.

And Shakespeare in Love director John Madden is to begin shooting a remake next year, trade newspaper Variety reports.

Mirren's character is forced to return to work when her supposed victim resurfaces 30 years after the botched killing.

"Helen Mirren is the perfect choice for the central role," said Madden.

Her character is "a formidable and dignified woman grappling with years of emotional disappointment, suddenly confronted by a powerful and unexpected choice," the Mrs Brown helmer added.

The script is to be penned by Stardust director Matthew Vaughn and Jonathan Ross' wife Jane Goldman, who wrote the 2007 fantasy hit with Vaughn.