"Batman Begins" star Christian Bale has signed up to star in "Rescue Dawn", to be made on the real life story of US fighter pilot Dieter Dengler.

The film will be based on a 1977 documentary "Little Dieter Needs to Fly", according to Variety magazine.

Dengler was a German-American who was shot down and captured in Laos during the Vietnam War.

While Bale is to portray Dengler, other stars signed up for the movie include Steve Zahn who recently appeared in "Sahara". The movie is to be filmed in Thailand.