British actress Elizabeth Hurley is being chased to play a wicked witch in the next Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix".

The 39-year-old actress has been asked to play evil Bellatrix Lestrange, a member of Potter villain Voldemort's gang, in the fifth film of the popular wizard series.

"The producers have tried to keep details of the cast under wraps but they have always wanted someone beautiful and mystical to play Bellatrix and they reckon Liz can pull it off," the website quoted a source as saying.

The fourth film in the series, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", would be released in November.