Twenty-five years after the murder of John Lennon, a new film is set to explore the mind of his killer.
Entitled Chapter 27, the movie will tell the story of obsessed fan Mark Chapman in the days before he gunned down the former Beatle outside his Manhattan home in 1980.
Rising star Jared Leto, who won acclaim for his part as a heroin addict in 2000's Requiem for a Dream, will play the part of the murderer.
"It's a psychological study of [Chapman]," producer John Flock told Reuters. "I wouldn't call it a sympathetic portrayal of him, but you do kind of get into Chapman's head."
Teen film favourite Lindsay Lohan has been cast as a fictional Lennon fan who befriends Chapman days before the murder.
The film is the brainchild of first-time writer and director Jarrett Schaeffer. The title is a reference to the JD Salinger classic Catcher in the Rye, which Chapman cited as his inspiration for the murder. Chapman has said he identified with the book's hero, who hated phonies, and shot Lennon because he thought him a hypocrite.
Filming is to start in January in New York, with a cinema release scheduled for next year.
Chapman is currently serving a life sentence at a New York state prison.
