AceShowbiz -

Seems talks about "Death and Me" begin to heat up already. Film ick has provided a scoop stating that "Disturbia" star Shia LaBeouf and famed filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro have both boarded the project, which now is being developed under Warner Independent Pictures banner.

LaBeouf is said to be almost positive to play the male lead, Sexton Furnival, while Guillermo Del Toro is likely to serve as either a producer or an executive producer in the project since the director's seat has already been taken by Neil Gaiman who marks his feature directorial debut here.

It is further added that the actress to portray the Death, or Didi as she calls herself in her mortal form, has been chosen and soon will be announced. Pic reportedly will go into production between late autumn-early winter in the U.K..

A big screen adaptation of Gaiman's DC/Vertigo graphic novel "Death: The High Cost of Living", "Death and Me" revolves around the teenager Furnival who meets a young woman claiming to be Death, taking on mortal flesh for one day in a century to walk among men. Gaiman will helm from the script he himself wrote with Don Murphy and Susan Montford both producing.

In related news, Del Toro is also reported to be in talks to direct another film adaptation based on Tom Manning's graphic novel "Runoff", which tells about a town that people can enter but can never leave. Manning has confessed that he was contacted by the "Pan's Labyrinth" helmer last year to talk the possibility of doing the project together yet he did admit that they "haven't worked out any contractual details yet."