The screenwriters behind movie hits Nixon and Ali have been handed the task of adapting the story of martial arts legend Bruce Lee's most famous fight for the big screen.

Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen Rivele have been hired to write the script for Birth of the Dragon by executives at Groundswell Productions.

The film is inspired by a duel between Lee and Wong Jack Man, who was China's most famous Kung Fu master, in San Francisco in 1965.

Groundswell's Michael London says, "Stephen Rivele and Chris Wilkinson have taken a little-known chapter in the life of Bruce Lee and used it as a jumping-off point for a bold, exciting story about the making of an international legend."

The screenwriters won an Oscar nomination for Nixon and they are also the brains behind an upcoming biopic of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, starring Sacha Baron Cohen.