Gary Oldman in talks to play Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour

Gary Oldman might bring one of Britain’s finest politicians to life. The Dark Knight actor is in talks to star as Winston Churchill in Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour, the director’s reps confirm to EW.

The Working Title drama recruited Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything) to pen the screenplay focusing on the United Kingdom in 1940, less than one year into World War II. Churchill was appointed Prime Minister in May of that year, stepping in for Neville Chamberlain, who resigned. The potently quotable Churchill shepherded the U.K. through the War for the next five years.

Churchill was ultimately given endless awards throughout his life, from being knighted, receiving a state funeral, becoming the first honorary U.S. citizen, and declared the Greatest Briton in a 2002 BBC poll.

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Oldman appears in Friday’s action project, Criminal, alongside Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Alice Eve, and Gal Gadot.

Deadline first reported the news.