Crazy Heart writer-director Scott Cooper has replaced Noah Baumbach (Greenberg) for the adaptation of Claire Messud's novel The Emperor's Children.  Twitch reports that the switch is likely due to Baumbach's busy schedule.  He's currently in production on a documentary, and he's already set to direct his script While We're Young (starring Jesse Eisenberg, Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts) next year.

Since last November, Cooper has becomes attached to a remake of Carancho, a project called The Pale Blue Eye, and the dark drama Out of the Furnace, but we don't know if he's still on board for these films, although Twitch says he's still on for Furnace.  It's unknown if Cooper will still use Baumbach's script for Emperor's Children.  The film is being eyed for a spring 2012 start date.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the novel.

Here's the synopsis for Claire Messud's novel The Emperor's Children:

The Emperor's Children is about the intersections in the lives of three friends, now on the cusp of their thirties, making their way--and not--in New York City. There is beautiful, sophisticated Marina Thwaite--an "It" girl finishing her first book; the daughter of Murray Thwaite, celebrated intellectual and journalist--and her two closest friends from Brown, Danielle, a quietly appealing television producer, and Julius, a cash-strapped freelance critic. The delicious complications that arise among them become dangerous when Murray's nephew, Frederick "Bootie" Tubb, an idealistic college dropout determined to make his mark, comes to town. As the skies darken, it is Bootie's unexpected decisions--and their stunning, heartbreaking outcome--that will change each of their lives forever.

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