Michael Fassbender news! Those three words equal instantaneous interest on any sane person’s part. This being established, let me go right ahead and tell you of Variety‘s report that the Irish superstar has entered discussions about leading The Mountain Between Us, a romantic drama that Gerardo Naranjo (Miss Bala) has set up with Fox.

In the adaptation of Charles Martin’s novel, Fassbender would be seen in the role of “Ben Trace, a doctor and avid climber who uses his skills to transport an injured writer named Ashley down a mountain in harsh weather.” (The actual book — translated for the silver screen by J. Mills Goodloe — centers on “two strangers who survive a plane crash in the Colorado woods and are forced to rely on one another for survival, eventually falling in love.”)

While there hasn’t been any indication as to when production kicks off, Fassbender‘s got Ridley Scott‘s The Counselor and Steve McQueen‘s Twelve Years a Slave, both of which are aiming for starts sometime in the summer. Barring a quick production, then, those involved with Mountain may have to wait a few months before trekking up some rocky, romantic terrain. Small potatoes, however, when you’re waiting on one of the world’s finest actors.

Here’s a longer synopsis of the original book:

Ashley is a writer catching a flight from Salt Lake City and heading East for her wedding. Ben is a doctor returning from a medical conference. When a their flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer, the strangers agree to charter a ride, only to see the pilot suffer a heart attack and crash into a desolate snowy mountain region. He breaks ribs and she suffers a leg fracture. Fortunately, aside from a doctor he’s an avid climber, and as he struggles to get her down from the mountain in harsh weather, she begins to realize that maybe she was headed to marry the wrong guy.

Will Fassbender’s involvement get you more excited for The Mountain Between Us?