Although Tim Burton has yet to begin shooting his long-awaited adaptation of Dark Shadows -- or, for that matter, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which he'll only produce -- he's already eyeing his next project: Warner Bros.' The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Heat Vision reports the director may team with Josh Brolin, who'll produce as well as star, to bring Victor Hugo's 1831 novel to the big screen for at least the 12th time. Kieran and Michele Mulroney, who wrote Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows for Warner Bros., will pen the script, which will be critical to Burton's commitment to the project.

The novel tells the tragic story of Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral who falls in love with a beautiful gypsy named Esmeralda. Hunchback was first translated to film in 1905 as a silent short called Esmeralda. However, its best known adaptations are the 1939 film starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara, the 1956 version with Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollobrigida, and Disney's 1996 animated feature.