Actor Jamie Dornan has landed his first post-Fifty Shades Of Grey role - he has been cast as Commandant Pat Quinlan in a film about a fabled battle between Irish troops and Congolese fighters in 1961.

The Siege of Jadotville will centre on the military operation, in which Quinlan led a United Nations battalion consisting of 150 Irish soldiers against an army led by warlord Moise Tshombe, who had killed the Congo's Prime Minister Patrice Lamumba and 3,000 local troops and French and Belgian mercenaries.

Music video and commercial director Richie Smyth will take charge of the project, which is slated to begin filming next year (15) in Ireland and South Africa.

A statement from Dornan reads: "I can't wait to get stuck into Jadotville. It's an unbelievable story and Commandant Pat Quinlan is going to be a treat of a character to tackle.

"I'm a big fan of both Richie Smyth and (producer) Alan Moloney and I'm very much looking forward to working with them both."

Dornan shot to fame last year (13) when he was picked to replace Charlie Hunnam as literary lothario Christian Grey in the movie adaptation of E.L. James' erotic bestseller.