Early word out of Toronto International Film Festival is that Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness) is in negotiations to star in James Gray's adaptation of The Lost City of Z.  David Grann's bestselling non-fiction narrative tells of British explorer Percy Fawcett who ventured into the Amazon jungle and never returned.  Cumberbatch is in talks to star as Fawcett, who survived the perils of the jungle once and discovered a mythical lost city, but wasn't so lucky when he journeyed back for proof.

Cumberbatch will next be seen in 12 Years A Slave, The Fifth Estate and August: Osage County, all of which will be premiering in Toronto.  He'll then be heard as the voice of Smaug in the final Hobbit films and will star as Alan Turing in Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game.  While he won't be seen in Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak, it remains unclear whether or not he'll star in Star Wars Episode VII.  Hit the jump for more on The Lost City of Z.

Deadline reports that Cumberbatch is in negotiations for the lead role in Gray's The Lost City of Z.

Here's the book's synopsis (via Amazon):

In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century.