LOS ANGELES -- Overuse of the word "epic" seems to have died down in the past year or two. Which is a good thing -- because now we have cause to trot it out for real.
Hugh Jackman is in early talks to play Odysseus in a blockbuster adaptation of Homer's "The Odyssey," Hollywood trade website TheWrap reported Thursday. Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games sequels) will direct the project, which TheWrap says will begin production next year.
Lionsgate, the studio behind the project, did not immediately return messages seeking comment Thursday.
"The Odyssey," one of two epic Greek poems attributed to Homer, is the story of Odysseus (or Ulysses in Roman) and his 10-year journey home after the fall of Troy -- from his escape from captivity on Calypso's island to his secret return to Ithaca, and many trials in between, most of which are set before him by feuding Greek gods. (And if this works, it's got a built-in prequel in "The Iliad," most recently and splashily adapted in Wolfgang Petersen's 2004 film Troy.)
Before he tackles "The Odyssey," Jackman will play Logan one last time for an untitled Wolverine sequel set for 2017.