Fans of Patricia Highsmith novels and their related movie adaptations may be interested to know that her 1954 tome, The Blunderer, will be directed by Andy Goddard (Downton Abbey).  Highsmith wrote the novel between Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley.  The story centers on the young, handsome and successful Walter Stackhouse, whose perfect life unravels when his wife is found dead at the bottom of a cliff – and he’s the prime suspect.  From the look of the book cover, Goddard better check and see if Jon Hamm is available.  Hit the jump for the press release.

Everyone, at some point in their lives, secretly wishes death on another person. We all do it. Homicidal thoughts are as natural as breathing. Hopefully you’ve never acted on yours, but if you are reading this from a prison cell, congratulations on being assertive. The notion that we all want someone dead is what drives smarmy psychopath Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) into asking tennis star Guy Haines (Farley Granger) for a good ol’ round of murder in Hitchcock‘s Strangers on a Train. Hit the jump to for my full review of the new Blu-ray edition from Warner Bros. 

Here are some recent casting additions at a glance:

• Justin Long (Live Free or Die Hard) is in talks to star in the adaptation of Stephen King’s short story, The Ten O’Clock People.
• Dylan McDermott (American Horror Story) is the latest addition to the White House thriller Olympus Has Fallen, starring Aaron Eckhart and Gerard Butler.
• Oscar Isaac (Drive) is in negotiations to star opposite Viggo Mortensen in Hossein Amini’s The Two Faces of January.

Hit the jump for more on each picture.

Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) are set to star in Carol, the adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, “The Price of Salt.” BAFTA winner, John Crowley (Boy A) will direct from a Phyllis Nagy (Mrs. Harris) adaptation.  Per the press release: “Carol is a love story about pursuit, betrayal and passion that follows the burgeoning relationship between two very different women in 1950s New York. One, a girl in her twenties working in a department store who dreams of a more fulfilling life, and the other, a wife trapped in a loveless, moneyed marriage desperate to break free but fearful of losing her daughter in the process.”  Filming is slated to begin next February in London and New York.  Hit the jump for more. 

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.

Viggo Mortensen passed on Snow White and the Huntsman right around the time Hossein Amini entered negotiations to rewrite the script.  I suspect their paths crossed, as in the months since, Amini and Mortensen teamed to develop an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Two Faces of January.  The 1964 novel is a suspense thriller that centers on an American con artist, his wife, and a stranger in travelling in Athens.  A source tells 24 Frames Mortensen would assume one of the three starring roles, and this is intended to be the directorial debut of Amini.

Amini wields a powerful calling card right now with Drive — by all accounts from Cannes and LAFF, Drive is amazing.  We peons only have to wait three months for the September 16 theatrical release.  Cronenberg will next be seen playing Sigmund Freud in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, assuming it gets the late 2011 release we expect.  The first trailer, released yesterday, is wonderfully deranged.

Read the full synopsis for The Two Faces of January after the break.