Yorgos Lanthimos in talks to direct gothic Western 'The Hawkline Monster'

Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is in negotiations to direct the big-screen adaptation of Richard Brautigan's novel "The Hawkline Monster".

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be a gothic Western set at New Regency.

Roy Lee and Steven Schneider are attached to produce the project.

Lanthimos, who received a best director Oscar nomination for his 2018's absurdist period drama "The Favourite", will also produce with Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of his frequent collaborator Element Pictures.

Written by black comedy scribe Brautigan, "The Hawkline Monster" follows two gunslingers hired by a 15-year-old girl named Magic Child to kill the monster that lives in ice caves under the basement of a house inhabited by a young woman named Miss Hawkline.

What follows is a unique adventure where there is more to Magic Child, Miss Hawkline and the house than meets the eye.

Before Lanthimos, names such as Hal Ashby and Tim Burton also planned to adapt the novel for the big screen.

Ashby tried to make the film for a couple of decades, with stars like Jack Nicholson, Harry Dean Stanton and Jeff Bridges, and screenplay by Brautigan himself, but things never materialised.

Burton tried to make his version, with Nicholson and Clint Eastwood but it too fell apart.