According to Variety, Jim Carrey and director Joel Schumacher are negotiating to team on "The Number 23," a Fernley Phillips-scripted New Line drama.

Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson of Contrafilm will produce the pic, which is skedded to shoot in November.

Schumacher was attached to the quirky thriller once before.

Carrey will play a man who becomes obsessed and haunted upon reading a book that seems to be about his life but ends with a murder. The number 23 is woven throughout the plot.

The project re-emerged this year, and Carrey and Schumacher each had time in their schedules to make it their next assignment. Schumacher expected to be in production on "The Crowded Room" at New Regency; instead, the fact-based film about a man with 24 different personalities has been undergoing a significant rewrite by Lem Dobbs. He won't turn in his script until late this fall.