Two-and-a-half months after our last update, Todd Field‘s The Creed of Violence is back on our radar in a major way. With Universal Pictures and Cross Creek Pictures now throwing their support behind the helmer’s long-awaited return, ThePlaylist has learned (and Variety confirms) that Christian Bale, right off The Dark Knight Rises, is looking toward the project as one of his first post-Wayne roles.

Word first came in when the Cross Creek website listed him — prematurely, it would appear — as Creed‘s star, and Jeff Sneider, in a roundabout way, indicates that talks have been going on since the studio deals were put into place. Excited as some of us may (and should) be, there is the cautionary note that it’s “no sure thing that a deal will close”; these long talks have something to do with the tentative nature, I’d think.

Bale would go back to that western territory — which he occupied so well in the better-than-you-remember 3:10 to Yuma — by playing Rawbone, a less-than-reputable character tasked with bringing weapons to Mexican rebels during the 1910 revolution. The plans change, however, when a government agent named John Lourdes — with whom he’s said to share “”a secret past” — takes Rawbone into his possession and, eventually, partners to get the job done together. On this dangerous trip, the duo find themselves running into “thieves, smugglers and professional killers.”

The participation of Leonardo DiCaprio might be out of the picture — Variety doesn’t mention him, and it’s been more than a year since he was first rumored — so if that’s hard for you to accept, I apologize. Regardless, that sounds like a terrific role for Bale to tackle, and it’s all the better when you think of Field; over only two films, he’s coaxed career-best performances out of his leads. He’s an actor I’ve been an admirer of for some time but, as is the case with many others, have been hoping to see back in the world of dark, slightly smaller material. There are few better ways to reignite that pattern than The Creed of Violence.

The film will begin shooting in early 2013.

Would you be pleased to see Bale and Field partner up on Creed?