Castle Rock are rumoured to be lining up director Scott Hicks and actor Anthony Hopkins for a big-budget treatment of a Stephen King story, Hearts in Atlantis.

A collection of interlinked coming-of-age stories that was first published last year, Hearts in Atlantis looks to be King's most purely autobiographical work - tracing the upbringing of an impoverished, fatherless kid growing up in rural Maine in the 50s and 60s.

Castle Rock will concentrate on the title story in the collection, which revolves around the experiences of a group of students at the University of Maine, who find their wild life of self-discovery overshadowed by the Vietnam War and the threat of the draft. The leading character takes refuge in the homespun wisdom of a reclusive older man who becomes his mentor. If negotiations are successful, Hopkins will play the mentor, with the younger role still up for grabs. Hicks (director of the Oscar-winning Shine and the recent Snow Falling on Cedars) will direct and shooting is scheduled to begin later this year.

As a writer, King remains best known for his gory horror tales (which he himself describes as the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries) but Castle Rock have been credited with turning out the most mainstream and successful King adaptations. Hearts in Atlantis appears closest in spirit to their 1986 adaptation of Stand by Me (which followed four boys' hunt for a dead body), but their previous efforts also include Misery, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile - all of which received at least one Oscar nomination. Castle Rock's association with the author goes back a long way - even the studio's name is that of a fictional Maine township that crops up in various King novels.