As previously reported, James Mangold (The Wolverine, Walk the Line) has been interested in directing an adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s mystery novel The Deep Blue Goodbye. The first order of business was to find an actor to portray the iconic Travis McGee character, and Mangold may have found just the man in his 3:10 to Yuma star Christian Bale.

Bale would be playing the salvage consultant McGee, who recovers his clients’ lost property for the fee of half the item’s value. Most of the time this involves a physical object, sometimes a missing person and in one novel a client asks McGee to recover his stolen reputation. Bale is in early talks for the role and an offer is expected in the near future.

The Deep Blue Goodbye is the first of 21 books with the McGee protagonist, so if the film adaptation is successful 20th Century Fox could have a major franchise on their hands. Leonardo DiCaprio, who was once attached to star as McGee, will serve as a producer for the film, while Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Minority Report) is working on the most recent draft of the Dennis Lehane script.

We will be sure to keep you posted with the latest news as the project is pieced together.