UPDATE: We got word this morning that the production has hired on Babel screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga to pen the adaptation of the novel. The powerhouse writer also wrote Amores Perros and 21 Grams, so expect some serious drama from a fantastically talented pen. Or word processor. Whatever the kids are using these days to write.

After turning in one hell of a film with an aged star that was in dire need of career resurrection, and then working with one of the most highly sought after acting talents around, I’m wondering how it will fare when Darren Aronofsky finally gets the largest movie star in the world on set and calls “Action.”

He and Brad Pitt came close, of course, back with The Fountain, but according to IESB, they are tossing in their lot with each other again for The Tiger.

Apparently it’s based off an unpublished novel by John Valliant, an author who has done some great work with National Geographic. According to the Random House website, the synopsis looks a little something like this:

It’s December 1997 and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East. The tiger isn’t just killing people, it’s annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. To their horrified astonishment it emerges that the attacks are not random: the tiger is engaged in a vendetta. Injured and starving, it must be found before it strikes again, and the story becomes a battle for survival between the two main characters: Yuri Trush, the lead tracker, and the tiger itself.

Sadly, I doubt that Brad Pitt is being cast and suited up to play the tiger. It would be a bold choice, and Aronofsky is into bold choices, but he’ll be sticking with more traditional human casting this time around.

What this possibly means, if this is the very next project that Aronofsky is taking on after Black Swan, that he’s forgotten completely about Robocop. Score one for the anti-remake crowd. Plus, this sounds like it could be a solid drama mixed with some fantastic tiger-mauling action.

And who doesn’t love tiger-mauling action?