Jack Black is preparing to star in Twentieth Century Fox’s bigscreen adaptation of the classic story “Gulliver’s Travels,” filling the shoes of the title character.

Trade paper Variety reports Jack Black is up for a new kind of role: that of Lemuel Gulliver, a travel writer who is on assignment in Bermuda and comes upon the hidden island of Lilliput, which is home to a tiny population he is giant to in comparison.

Rob Letterman (“Shark Tale”) will direct the film. Nicholas Stoller, who directed “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” and Joe Stillman (“Shrek”) penned the screenplay, based on the 1726 Jonathan Swift tale. Principal photography begins in March; no location has been selected yet.

Jack Black next appears in the Columbia comedy “The Year One,” alongside Michael Cera. Directed by Harold Ramis and produced by Judd Apatow, the film is slated for a June release. The actor is also set to star in sequels to the music-themed comedy “School of Rock” for Paramount and animated family film “Kung Fu Panda” for Dream Works Animation.

The latter opened earlier this summer and was a box office success as well as a critics’ darling. Directed by Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, the film featured a voice cast which included Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan, among others. Jolie has also signed for the sequel, which has been scheduled for a 2011 release.

“Gulliver’s Travels” has inspired several television and bigscreen adaptations, including the 1996 NBC miniseries starring Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, with supporting actors Peter O’Toole, John Gielgud, Omar Sharif, and Kristin Scott Thomas.