Sean Penn joining 'The Last Photograph'?

Sean Penn is reportedly in talks to star in thriller The Last Photograph.

The Oscar-winning actor could play an ex-special operations soldier who has to return to Afghanistan to help free a hostage victim, according to Deadline.

Christian Bale has already been cast as a war correspondent in the film, which will be helmed by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo director Niels Arden Oplev.

The characters will work together in the picture to find the kidnapped relative, based solely on the last photograph taken of them.

According to the site, Zach Snyder developed the project after the success of 300.

Production is expected to begin next year, after Bale wraps up The Dark Knight Rises.

Sean Penn will next be seen in Tree of Life and This Must be the Place, which are both showing at Cannes.