The Solutrean (Kodi Smit-McPhee)

X-Men: Apocalypse's Kodi Smit-McPhee is in negotiations to star in Studio 8's survival epic The Solutrean.

The Australian actor, who will play Kurt Wagner — aka Nightcrawler — in the upcoming outing of Fox's mutant franchise, is nearing a deal to topline the ice age-set film from director Albert Hughes (Book of Eli, Menace II Society). Hughes, who came up with The Solutrean's premise, is producing the film with Andrew Rona.

Based on a screenplay by Dan Wiedenhaupt, the story is set 20,000 years ago in Europe during the Upper Paleolithic period and centers on a young man's quest to brave the inhospitable and dangerous conditions and find his way back to his tribe.

The big-budget film is poised to mark the first homegrown project to come from Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8 and is expected to play in the Imax 3D format. Shooting is expected to begin later this year or early 2016 in Iceland and Canada.

Sony, which has a deal to release Studio 8 films, will distribute The Solutrean.

As a child, Smit-McPhee starred in another survivalist tale, The Road, opposite Viggo Mortensen. He then went on to star in Matt Reeves' Let Me In and played a supporting role in Reeves' Dawn of the Planet of the Apes as well as voiced a lead role in ParaNorman. The Solutrean would mark the 19-year-old actor's first starring role in a studio tentpole. Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters on May 27.