Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a look at who's in the running for main players in the Roger Avary/Neil Gaiman scripted Robert Zemeckis flick BEOWULF. Variety reports Ray Winstone ("Kevin" from my witty headline... not Elijah Wood... that's one for you WHO fans), Anthony Hopkins, Brendan Gleeson and Robin Wright Penn are all in negotiations to be part of the flick.

Also, Avary announced that Gabriella Pescucci is the costume designer on the project... She's worked with Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam (many times) and even Fellini and Leone... we'll just forget that she took any part in VAN HELSING... If you go over to Avary's website (CLICK HERE TO GO!) you can also see pics of that crazy man with Zemeckis and Gaiman... and a look at the coolest possible pinball machine that could be in Zemeckis' office...

Anyway, I have high hopes for this project. The creative talent involved is fantastic and the cast they're going after looks top notch. What do you folks think?

Columbia Pictures is negotiating with Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Brendan Gleeson and Robin Wright Penn to star in director Robert Zemeckis' "Beowulf."

The performance capture film, based on the Old English epic poem about a knight who slays a monster and becomes king, is being financed by Steve Bing's Shangri-La Entertainment.

Winstone and his co-stars would be committing to a process that is more like a regular movie than the voiceover work commonly done for 3-D animated films.

In a process pioneered in the Zemeckis-directed "The Polar Express" and the recently completed summer 2006 release "Monster House," the actors perform their roles, which get processed through a computerized motion capture animation process.

Pic was scripted by Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman, with Zemeckis and his ImageMovers partners Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke producing. Martin Shafer exec produces with the scribes.

Winstone will also be starring in the Anthony Minghella-directed "Breaking and Entering" and Martin Scorsese's "The Departed."