Rumor has it that grunge diva Courtney Love is up for a starring role in the upcoming science fiction film, Ghost of Mars.

According to Variety gossip columnist Michael Fleming, Love "looks likely" to play the leader of a cinematic expedition to the Red Planet.

Love had earlier been reported as mentioning on a radio program that she may appear in "the next John Carpenter movie."

In other casting tidbits, Fleming said that Whoopi Goldberg is "possible" in a scientific role, while relative unknown Jason Statham may be tapped as the film's male lead.

Fleming described the film's plot as a seemingly straightforward hunt for a rogue colonist that goes awry when an genocidal Martian ghost emerges.

The film was formerly known as John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. Although the director's name has been removed from the project's working title, he remains fully involved in the development process.

Distributor Sony Screen Gems has not yet narrowed the film's release date beyond sometime in 2001.