After proving a dynamic onscreen match in Milk and, with some luck, January’s Gangster Squad, Sean Penn and Josh Brolin are getting back together in a different sort of way. According to Variety, the latter is looking to headline the former’s first directorial outing since Into the Wild: Crazy for the Storm, a big-screen version of Norman Ollestad‘s memoirs of wilderness survival. (I doubt you’d be the first to point out similarities between he and Christopher McCandless.)

In that recount, the man told of how a plane crash over California’s San Gabriel Mountains stranded him, at 11 years old, 8,200 feet above civilization in the midst of a blizzard. Although Ollestad’s father died alongside his girlfriend and their pilot, skills he taught the boy — in “wild and demanding adventures” which created a mutual sense of respect and disdain — helped save Norman’s life.

Brolin would play the father, and, since he carries the sort of strong, domineering presence one can easily see Storm requires, it’s a pretty spot-on decision. While casting the lead child will, of course, be the most important thing, grabbing him is a pretty fine start to the selection process.

Warner Bros. are distributing Crazy for the Storm, which is expected to commence production around the start of next year. Will Fetters (The Lucky One, Remember Me) is behind the screenplay, so let’s hope those other two credits were just honest mistakes.

With Brolin signed, do your expectations for Storm increase?