Patricia Highsmith is one of those novelists that filmmakers just can’t stop adapting: more than 25 of her thrillers have been thrown on to the screen, including The Talented Mr Ripley, The American Friend and Strangers On A Train. And her 1957 tome Deep Water has been in the works over at Fox 2000 for several years now, with Zach Helm the latest name attached to tackle scripting duties.
Water focuses on a comfortable suburban couple whose marriage has become a stale blend of routine and joyless interaction. The husband hits on a plan to keep things interesting – he’ll let his wife have as many affairs as she wants. While it doesn’t sound like the sort of idea most marriage counsellors would recommend, it seems to work for a while. But then the various lovers start dying in mysterious circumstances…
Back in 2009, Mike Nichols was set to direct, with Joe Penhall writing the script. Now it’s looking for someone to call the shots and Steven Zaillian is leading the search as the main producer on the project.
It’s likely Helm could snag the gig: he has experience behind the camera on Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and he also wrote Stranger Than Fiction. His latest script job, Freezing People Is Easy, hasjust landed Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Christopher Walken for the tale of early cryogenics experiments.