Fox 2000 has hired Zach Helm to adapt Patricia Highsmith’s 1957 suspense novel “Deep Water,” says The Hollywood Reporter. W. W. Norton & Company describes the novel as follows:
In Deep Water, set in the small town of Little Wesley, Vic and Melinda Meller’s loveless marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family. Eventually, Vic tries to win her back by asserting himself through a tall tale of murder-one that soon comes true.
Highsmith also wrote “Strangers on a Train” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Helm’s credits include Stranger Than Fiction and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, which he also directed. He is currently adapting Freezing People is Easy, based on Robert Nelson’s “We Froze the First Man” and has Paul Rudd, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson and Christopher Walken attached to star.
The “Deep Water” movie will be produced by Steve Zaillian via his Film Rites. Guymon Casady of Management 360 is executive producing along with Mike Nichols.
