According to The Hollywood Reporter, Owen Wilson is in final negotiations to star in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the remake of the 1947 Danny Kaye classic that Mark Waters is directing for Paramount Pictures.

Wilson would star as the title character, a quintessential daydreamer whose vivid imagination allows him to escape from the mundane constraints of his ordinary life.

Mitty originated as a short story by James Thurber and was turned into a 1947 laffer starring Danny Kaye, produced by Samuel Goldwyn Sr. While the new pic retains the concept of a man prone to vivid daydreams, the storyline has changed considerably.

In this version, he falls for the daughter of a bank robber. In the '47 pic, he was caught up with some crown jewels hidden since WWII.

Samuel Goldwyn Jr. has been trying for more than a decade to mount a new version. He had developed the project at New Line, then moved it to Paramount -- when John Goldwyn was president of the studio -- with Jim Carrey attached to star and Steven Spielberg directing.

At various points, other directors attached included Ron Howard and Chuck Russell. Drafts have been developed by scribes such as Russell, Peter Tolan and the team of Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel.

Richard LaGravenese wrote the screenplay, which will not be based on the original movie but rather hew closer to the spirit and content of the original source material, the 1939 James Thurber story.