Michael Mann has acquired the rights to Gold, a modern-day thriller set around a ruthless search for the eponymous metal.

The film, which THR describes as “in the vein of The Treasure of Sierra Madre” (1948), is scripted by Friday Night Lights writers and co-exec producers Patrick Massett and John Zinman.

Mann will also produce the film with Paul Haggis and Michael Nozik; Haggis himself was initially interested in directing the project. Mann, director of Heat (1995), Collateral (2004) and Public Enemies (2009), is currently developing two other films, Batam and Agincourt.