Deadline: Here’s a testament that good projects sometimes rise above development hell. Benedict Cumberbatch, who figures to be a big man on campus at the Toronto Film Festival with 12 Years A Slave, The Fifth Estate and August: Osage County getting big premieres, is negotiating to star in Lost City Of Z, which James Gray will direct from a script he adapted. Panorama Media will finance the film and handle foreign sales.

The film is based on the David Grann bestselling book. Cumberbatch is in talks to play Percy Fawcett, who in 1925 headed into the depths of the Amazon jungles in Brazil. Fawcett was there to map the jungle and, hobbled by malaria, he discovered a mythical city he called The Lost City Of Z. Scorned by peers who claimed that this ancient kingdom was a fraud, Fawcett headed back into the jungle with his son and one other, braving the dangers of disease, insects, snakes, poison darts and other hazards to reinforce his discovery. None of them were ever seen again and it remains one of the great exploration mysteries of the 20th Century.

Playlist: Last month when we chatted with director James Gray, he cautioned that the fate of his long developing "The Lost City Of Z" depended on how things panned out at this weeks American Film Market. He already put a good foot forward, landing Benedict Cumberbatch for a starring role in the film, and it hopefully this latest bit of casting can put it over the top.

Screen Daily reveals in their print issue from the floor of AFM, that Robert Pattinson is also on board the movie, that Panorama Media is financing and selling rights for as well. The movie is being produced by Brad Pitt's shingle Plan B (he was going to star in a previous iteration of the film before it fell apart at Paramount) and is an adaptation of David Grann's book tell the story of English soldier-turned-explorer Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, whose obsession with the Amazon and belief that an ancient civilization resided there led him on many expeditions where he narrowly escaped death. After financing eventually dried up, Fawcett self-funded one last adventure into the Amazon with his son, from which neither returned. We presume Cumberbatch will play Fawcett, and while there's no word yet on Pattinson's role, perhaps he'll play the son?

As for the tone of the picture, Gray had said to us he's aiming for the epic scale of David Lean but with a "slightly more hallucinogenic feel. Because [the protagonist] went to the jungle and sorta went mad.” So yes, fingers crossed this gets rolling in 2014.

Meanwhile, in case you were worried, Pattinson is still attached to Werner Herzog's "Queen Of The Desert." Recent trade reports about the movie notably didn't have his name among the cast of Nicole Kidman and Damian Lewis, but rest assured he'll be there.

The Wrap: Robert Pattinson will join Benedict Cumberbatch in James Gray’s "The Lost City of Z,” an individual familiar with the long-gestating project has told TheWrap. Brad Pitt was initially attached to star in the adaptation of David Grann’s acclaimed book, though he’s now strictly producing the film through his Plan B banner along with Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Anthony Katagas.

"Lost City of Z” follows Percy Fawcett, a British colonial who disappeared in the 1920s while searching for a mythical city in the Amazon jungles of Brazil that he believed he discovered on a prior expedition. Panorama Media will finance "Lost City of Z” and handle foreign sales. The film continues Pattinson’s streak of working with talented filmmakers. He recently wrapped David Cronenberg’s "Maps to the Stars” and next stars opposite Guy Pearce in David Michod’s thriller "The Rover.”  Pattinson is also attached to star in Werner Herzog’s "Queen of the Desert” and Anton Corbijn’s "Life.” He’s represented by WME and 3 Arts Entertainment.

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