Way back in November of last year, we told you that Dante D.W. Harper (All You Need Is Kill) had been hired to work on the script for writer/director Tommy Wirkola‘s (Dead Snow) Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters for Paramount Pictures.

Now, speaking with Kultur (via Twitch) at the Venice International Film Festival, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Avengers) has confirmed that he and Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) are in negotiations to star in the film as the sibling witch hunters.

Wirkola is set to helm the project which picks up the fairy-tale siblings 15 years after their traumatic gingerbread house incident, which provoked them to become witch bounty hunters. Kevin Messick (The Other Guys), Adam McKay (Channel 3 Billion), Will Ferrell (Megamind) and Chris Henchy (The Virginity Hit) are producing.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is slated to hit theaters in 2011.