Skins actor Jack O'Connell lands lead role in Angelina Jolie's new film Unbroken

Former Skins actor Jack O'Connell has beaten several Hollywood stars to land the leading role in Unbroken - directed by Angelina Jolie.

The film, set to be released on Christmas Day next year, will feature the up-and-coming British actor as Louis Zamperini, a former Olympian and World War II bombardier who overcame great obstacles when his plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean and he was taken prisoner by the Japanese.

O'Connell is currently filming 300: Rise of an Empire, and has previously appeared in This Is England and The Bill.

Based on Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling biography, and adapted by the Coen brothers, Unbroken tracks the life of Zamperini from high school track star to Olympic contestant and documents his harrowing ordeal in the war. Zamperini survived without food and water for 47 days following the plane crash and fended off attacks from sharks. He was eventually kept hostage by the Japanese troops for two years, during which he was tortured, until the end of the war in 1945.

Jolie was sought by Universal to direct the film in December after Joel and Ethan Coen penned the script. It will mark her first project since she announced that she had a preventative double mastectomy procedure earlier this year after being diagnosed with an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer.

The festive release date will place Unbroken in contention for the Academy Awards in March.