Screenwriter Zach Helm (Stranger Than Fiction) is set to adapt Patricia Highsmith‘s novel Deep Water.  Per THR, “The story centers on an upscale suburban husband who, in order to avoid a divorce, allows his wife to have affairs. When the paramours start disappearing, the quiet marriage and community that surrounds it begin to heat up.”  Fox 2000 wants to make the film as a “dark, sexy comedy.”  The project does not currently have a director.

Highsmith’s work is no stranger to Hollywood with her novels Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley both being adapted into critically acclaimed films.  Helm has his work cut out for him if he’s trying to make his adaptation measure up to those movies (on the bright side, Deep Water will probably be better than Ripley’s Game).  Helm is also writing Errol Morris‘ Freezing People Is Easy starring Paul Rudd, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, and Christopher Walken.  Hit the jump for the synopsis of Highsmith’s 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.