After several years in development, Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel just got a little bit closer to getting a film adaptation. Preproduction work on the "Everything Is Illuminated" author's 2005 9/11 novel, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," is under way.

Offers are going out to talent while co-producing studios Warner Bros. and Paramount figure out how things will work, Deadline reports. It is also revealed that Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks are "circling the project," something Bullock's rep confirmed to MTV News.

A call to Hanks' rep had not been returned as of press time.

"Extremely Loud" follows a 9-year-old New York boy in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, in which his father was killed. The boy finds a key that belonged to his dad, but he doesn't know what it unlocks. The story charts his search to answer that question. Foer's book employs an untraditional writing style that incorporates multiple interconnected story lines, photographs and the like.

The rights to the novel were first acquired several years ago. Scott Rudin is producing and Stephen Daldry ("The Hours") is attached to direct, with a script from "Forrest Gump" writer Eric Roth. Warner Bros. is described as the lead studio on the project.

Hanks recently wrapped shooting on "Larry Crowne," which he directed and stars in (he co-wrote the script with Nia Vardalos). It is his second feature effort as a writer/director, following the 1996 drama/comedy "That Thing You Do!" Bullock had a dynamite 2009 as one of the highest-grossing performers that year, between "All About Steve," "The Proposal" and "The Blind Side," for which she won the Best Actress Oscar, her first win in that category.

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