Page 3 Profile: Kit Harington, actor

Kit Harington is tipped to play the lead (Rex Features)

Hmm, I've heard that name before ...

Harington is a London actor who came to fame as Albert in the West End production of War Horse. These days he's known internationally as Jon Snow in the hugely popular fantasy series Game of Thrones. And next, he is tipped to play the heroic lead in a new film about the battle of Monte Cassino in 1944.

Monte Cassino? That was a tough gig...

Yes, the D-Day Dodgers, as they were sarcastically nicknamed, endured some of the worst close combat since the First World War. Many of the soldiers in the Italian campaign thought their efforts were overshadowed by the glory lavished on their counterparts in Normandy. The film is based on a true story of a wounded American soldier who marries the Italian nurse who cared for him. Veteran British director John Irvin, responsible for the TV adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, told i: "I think there is a sense of shame about the sheer cost and horror which was inflicted by questionable decisions leading to colossal casualties. I believe it hasn't been done [on film] before because the times simply haven't been right for this type of Second World War reflection."

Can Harington handle the fame?

He's notoriously private. "I have a wild streak, but I like to keep that very much for my friends," he told the Daily Beast. "I can't be the Kit in public that I might have been once." Still, he's got time to prepare. The film will be released in 2014.