Comedian Jack Whitehall has landed the part of the male lead in the new sci-fi comedy film Robots.

The movie - from The Da Ali G Show writer Anthony Hines - will also star American Horror Story's Emma Roberts and is set in a near-future America.

The story sees Whitehall and Roberts play a womaniser and gold-digger who have robot doubles of themselves and trick victims into relationships with them.

When they unwittingly use the scam on each other, however, their robot doubles fall in love and go on the run.

"When this project was first conceived, it seemed relevant - at the risk of sounding incredibly self-important, it now seems almost necessary," Hines told Variety.

"Set against a backdrop of an America seeded by the current administration, empathy has been devalued and one underclass has been expelled, only to be replaced by another: Robots."

Robots is expected to be filmed later this year for a 2021 release.