Twentieth Century Fox is in final negotiations to handle domestic distribution of Joel and Ethan Coen’s next feature, an adaptation of the 1993 James Dickey novel “To the White Sea,” which will star Brad Pitt.

Production on the largely dialogue-free war drama, budgeted at about $50 million, is slated to begin Jan. 14.

WWII-set “Sea,” written by the Coen brothers with a first draft by David Webb Peoples (“Unforgiven”), follows a B-29 gunner shot down during a bombing mission over Tokyo.

The gunner (Pitt), during peacetime a hunter in Alaska, is forced to parachute into enemy territory. When he heads for Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, he begins a violent odyssey that climaxes in the frozen landscape.

The film’s silence stems from the fact that the film is largely set in the wilderness and Pitt’s character — who does not speak Japanese — views those he meets during his journey as enemies who must be killed.

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