Mike Nichols Swims into DEEP WATER

Legendary director Mike Nichols (“The Graduate”, “Closer”) is set to direct an adaptation of the 1957 Patricia Highsmith novel about a loveless marriage that is able to survive because of an arrangement where the husband allows his wife to take lovers.  More info after the jump.

To anyone that knows Mike Nichols work this project seems exactly like something that the director might be interested in tackling. Ever since his debut film, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, the director always seems to come back to this topic of infidelity and insecurities in relationships with films like “The Graduate”, “Carnel Knowledge”, and even more recently with 2004′s “Closer”. What makes this one different and, in my opinion, more interesting is that we should expect more of a suspense thriller given the possible spoiler that is revealed in Variety’s write up about the plot.

“In “Deep Water,” a couple in a loveless marriage hang on through an arrangement whereby the husband permits the wife to take lovers. Suspense builds as those lovers begin dying.”

Patricia Highsmith also wrote “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Strangers on a Train” So, I am guessing that we are in store for one incredibly intense film with some crazy twists and turns. The script is also being adapted by Joe Penhall who recently adapted Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”. we still have yet to see how good of a job Penhall did with adapting that source material but as of now all of the pieces seem to be a perfect fit.