No, Gavin Hood hasn't been banished to Sarah Palin country to escape the ire of fanboys who didn't care for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He's negotiating to direct an adaptation of a book about heroic dog sled teams who helped to carry an antidote across the state.
The film doesn't yet have a title, but the book, by Gay and Laney Salisbury, is called The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story Of Dogs And Men In A Race Against An Epidemic, so you can understand why the producers have chosen not to run with that. Miramax was developing it at one point, with the slightly more marquee-friendly Ice Bound.
It's certainly a cinematic tale: the efforts of 20 men and 200 dogs who braved minus-60 degree temperatures, a weather phenomenon known as ice fog and many other dangers to get a diphtheria immunization to Nome in 1925, which had been largely cut off by a blizzard.
The adventure became known across America and one of the dogs even has a statue dedicated to them in Central Park.
Walden Media has the rights now, and if he locks in a deal, Hood should start shooting this summer.