Mel Gibson and Tye Sheridan are in final negotiations to join the indie “Black Flies,” which is based on the novel by Shannon Burke.

The script was penned by Ryan King and was featured on this year’s Black List. Jean-Stephane Sauvaire, who last directed the critically acclaimed A24 film “A Prayer Before Dawn,” will helm the pic.

Mad River Pictures is financing and producing alongside Christopher Kopp, Lucan Toh & Babak Anvari, and Anthony Katagas. Sheridan will also be a producer on the film. Production on the movie is slated to begin second quarter, 2019. CAA and WME are handling U.S. rights for the film, and IMR International will begin foreign sales in Berlin next week.

“Black Flies” is the story of a young paramedic, Ollie Cross (Sheridan), navigating his first year on the job. He’s partnered with Rutkovsky (Gibson), an experienced medic who thrusts Ollie into the harsh realities of New York’s inner-city streets. Amidst high crime rates, homelessness, and widespread drug use, Ollie finds his perspective on life and death beginning to shift.

IMR is coming off of a successful Sundance, where its movie “The Report” was sold to Amazon in an eight-figure deal.

Two & Two Pictures, the production company of Toh and Anvari, as well as Kopp’s AZA films just premiered “Wounds” at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Gibson and Sauvaire are represented by CAA. Sauvaire is also repped by Grandview. Sheridan is repped by WME. King is repped by UTA and Heroes and Villains Entertainment. Two & Two Pictures is repped by WME and Grandview, and Burke by Paradigm.