While his latest film is generating plenty of awards buzz, filmmaker Alexander Payne is already making moves on his next project.  Deadline reports that the Nebraska director is in talks to direct The Judge’s Will for Fox Searchlight and Conde Nast Entertainment.  The film is based on Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s final published work for The New Yorker before she died, which chronicles the final moments between a sick Delhi judge and his younger wife Bombay.  “Each has separate lives even though they live under the same roof and as he nears death, the judge wants to be sure that his even younger, barely educated mistress is cared for and not cast out.”

The Judge’s Will feels like the kind of tragedy that Payne captures so well, and one assumes he’ll inject the pic with plenty of deadpan humor and heart.  Deals aren’t finalized, but this could very well be Payne’s next film.  The director is currently promoting Nebraska, which opens November 15th.