Gerard Butler could feel the Afterburn

For a while it seemed like Gerard Butler was everywhere, but we haven’t seen him too much lately. Serving penance for THE BOUNTY HUNTER somewhere, maybe.

Now he’s getting back into action — of the post-apocalyptic sort. Butler is in talks for Relativity’s AFTERBURN, a comic adaptation being produced by former comic character Tobey Maguire and noisemaker Neal Moritz (XXX, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUSes).

Antoine Fuqua, who’s spent a decade trying to live up to TRAINING DAY and not quite getting there (SHOOTER, KING ARTHUR, yeesh), is attached to direct. Butler just finished MACHINE GUN PREACHER with director Marc Forster (QUANTUM OF SOLACE).

The futuristic story is set some time after a massive solar flare has charred the planet, and treasure hunters take advantage of the situation to seek priceless artifacts like the Mona Lisa and Crown Jewels. The Red 5 Comics title was written by online community contributors Paul Ens and Scott Chitwood (TheForce.net and ComingSoon.net, respectively).

A script was cranked out by Matt Johnson (TORQUE, INTO THE BLUE), but Deadline says Christian Gudegast (A MAN APART) will do a new draft.