After a few flops and disappointments it looked like Steve Carell’s movie career was on the ropes, but thanks to Foxcatcher and the Oscar nomination he got for it, he’s back on top, and now TheWrap reports he’s close to a deal to star in Marwencol for director Robert Zemeckis.

When the movie was first announced Leo DiCaprio was being sought to star, but now they’re going in a slightly different direction with Carell taking on the lead role.

The movie will be based on the life of Mark Hogancamp, who became the subject of a documentary by Jeff Malmberg’s in 2010 on which Zemeckis’ film will be based. The doc followed Hogancamp’s long road to recovery after he was severely beaten by five teenagers, causing him to slip into a coma for nine days. When he came out around, he had no memory of his life or friends and family.

To help his recovery, he began constructing a one-sixth scale model of a World War II-era Belgian village in his backyard, called Marwencol, with figures that resembled his friends, family members and even his attackers, which allowed him both to heal his memory and escape into his own fantasy scenarios.