Mel Gibson is teaming up with Showgirls writer Joe Eszterhas to work on a screenplay about a Jewish warrior.
Variety reports that Gibson has first option to direct the Warner Bros drama about the legendary Jewish hero, Maccabee.
The story follows the warrior who, along with his father and four brothers, led a revolt against the Greek-Syrian armies that conquered Judea in the second century BC.
The feast of Hanukkah celebrates the restoration of Jewish worship at the temple in Jerusalem after Maccabee removed the pagan statuary.
Eszterhas has previously worked on films such as Flashdance and Basic Instinct, and he was also awarded the Emanuel Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996 for his writings about the Holocaust in Hungary.
