The Morning Midway: Sean Penn in the Big Cage? New Circus Movie Worth Dreaming About ...

Based on the bestselling novel about circus life set in the Great Depression, Water for the Elephants is about to become a film, and Sean Penn is reported to be in the running to play "a charismatic but dangerous animal trainer."

Penn might then co-star with Reese Witherspoon, herself cast as an alluring equestrienne and wife to the wild man in the Big Cage.

And then there's Robert Pattinson (above), about whom I know nothing. Said to be a heartthrob, he would play a young veterinarian student hired to assist with the animals. The three figures become embroiled in a love triangle. Sounds promising, if not precariously melodramatic. Another mediocre circus movie trading on the usual cliches and spectacle? Few rise to the occasion. Even the Greatest Show On Earth has its critics. Most agree on the superlative Trapeze, possibly the finest big top flick ever made.

Now I have this urge to get my hands on the novel, wondering how many degrees of history underpin the author's narrative approach. The story promises a gritty look at what a more realistic form of circus once was up and down our free-wheeling sawdust trails. That could be refreshing if done right.

I'm waiting.