Actress Natalie Portman is in early negotiations to star in `Annihilation`, a post-apocalyptic horror adventure feature that Alex Garland is directing for Paramount as his follow-up to 2015 film `Ex Machina`.

Scott Rudin is producing the project, which is an adaptation of a book by Jeff VanderMeer, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

The story follows a biologist, to be played by Portman, as she embarks on a four-person expedition into Area X, a territory cut off from civilisation. While there, she must deal with a mysterious contamination, disappearing colleagues, a deadly animal and a being known as the Crawler, all while searching for clues regarding her husband's disappearance.

Garland wrote the script, adapted from VanderMeer's book, which hit stores in February 2014 and is the first in a trilogy.

Paramount didn't comment on Portman's casting.