Two names synonymous with romance are joining to become more steamy than ever: The Wrap had the exclusive last night that Michael Shannon has entered negotiations to appear in Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming romance film tentatively titled The Shape of Water, finally fulfilling his destiny as a leading man. He made a surprise late-in-the-game appearance in the 2014 self-reflexive romcom They Came Together as Amy Poehler’s psychotic ex-boyfriend, but all things considered, his entire career has been leading up to this role. Just look at that face. Look at it. Gaze deep into his beautiful eyes, see yourself reflected in them, witness the moment of your death in his million-yard stare. How could this spell anything but love?

What’s that? He‘s not going to be making front-door professions of undying love and exchanging rain-soaked kisses with an actress half his age? Ah. Further research indicates that Shannon would take the role of the film’s villain, and that aside, a Guillermo Del Toro romance could not be farther from the goopy clichés of Nicholas Sparks films past. Rumored to be set in 1963 with the Cold War as its backdrop (sure), this “otherworldly” romance plays out between Sally Hawkins as a mute woman working in a lab (still on board) and the amphibious mutant that she and her colleagues are holding captive (why the hell not). In other words, it sounds like another slice of bizarro eroticism from the brilliant mind that cooked up last fall’s severely under-appreciated Gothic romance Crimson Peak. The production has also roped in a few more celebrated character actors, with Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg and Richard Jenkins all on the cast list as well.

As The Wrap notes, Shannon’s been on a real hot streak as of late, with a standout performance in Elvis & Nixon as the rocker of legend, a quick cameo in Batman v Superman, and a starring role Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special (not to mention the lead in Loving, Nichols’ newest picture set to premiere at Cannes in a couple of weeks, as well as a pair of Sundance breakouts—Complete Unknown and Frank & Lola—that will find release over the year to come). Shannon’s a phenomenal performer, possessing a unique energy that is inviting and off-putting in equal measure. Any world where he gets steady work is the best of all possible worlds, and that goes double when Del Toro and imprisoned frog-men are in the mix.