Marine A the movie: Alexander Blackman 'in talks' with Hollywood to make film of his life

The barrister who represented former Royal Marine Alexander Blackman in court says he is in talks with Hollywood about turning his story into a film.

Jonathan Goldberg QC told Sky News: "The moral dilemmas facing Blackman are the reason Hollywood want to make films, and books are going to be written."

He also hinted at a stellar cast, adding: "I was out there two weeks ago to discuss it - there's talk even of Kate Winslet to play Claire (Blackman's wife) and Tom Hardy playing him and Al Pacino playing me, can you believe it."

Blackman spent more than three years in jail after shooting an insurgent, who had been seriously injured in an attack by an Apache helicopter, in the chest at close range with a 9mm pistol in Afghanistan in 2011.

Known only as Marine A during his original trial, Blackman has now had his murder conviction quashed and replaced with one of manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility.

Described by his lawyer as "the happiest man in the world", Blackman left Erlestoke Prison, near Devizes, Wiltshire, in the early hours of Friday morning.

Mr Goldberg said his client had gone to "a country hideaway where a lot of champagne will be opened."

Describing his client as an "exemplary soldier", he said that leaving the prison where he had spent three years with "the scum of the earth" was like the end of a "nightmare".

Now reunited with his "devoted wife Claire" after three and a half years, he said the couple needed to "decompress" following "a year of hell waiting for abominable court martial to happen."

The Court of Appeal has made the decision to remove the "dismissal with disgrace" ruling, a label Mr Goldberg said was unbearable for "a man of honour".

He also described Blackman's shooting of the injured Taliban fighter as "putting out of his misery someone who couldn't possibly survive" and said "you wouldn't leave a dog to die in those circumstances".

At the time of the killing, he said Blackman was receiving information on his headphones that a Taliban attack was expected at any moment.

Blackman and his patrol were needed to go to the assistance of the soldiers stationed at a command post 800 yards down the road, and it is that "moral dilemma" which Mr Goldberg says Hollywood producers are keen to explore in the film.

Mr Goldberg said Blackman, who will no longer be able to continue his role as a soldier, has "a bright future" and has already received "many job offers".