Robert Pattinson is to play Lawrence of Arabia in a new film.

The Twilight star has been cast as British army officer TE Lawrence in Werner Herzog's movie, Queen Of The Desert.

He will star opposite Naomi Watts, who will play the writer Gertrude Bell.

Bell, one of the first female graduates from Oxford University, travelled through the Middle East, working as an archaeologist, explorer, cartographer and political officer for the British Empire, defining the borders of Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Lawrence and Bell were good friends and together they helped establish the Hashemite dynasties in Jordan and Iraq.

Pattinson follows in the footsteps of legendary British actor Peter O'Toole, who famously played Lawrence in David Lean's 1962 classic film Lawrence Of Arabia.