Variety reports that Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder) is negotiating with Walt Disney Pictures to play the lead role in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

The film, penned by Lawnerce Konner and Mark Rosenthal and rewritten by Matt Lopez, is set in contemporary New York where a wizard (Nicolas Cage) searches for an apprentice and finds it in Baruchel’s character.

Jon Turteltaub is attached to direct, with Jerry Bruckheimer producing.