The big screen adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novella The Price of Salt has a new director.  Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska signed on to star in Carol last summer for Boy A director John Crowley, but Screen Daily now reports that Todd Haynes is taking the helm.  The pic is described as 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.

Haynes' directing credits include 2007’s I’m Not There and 2002’s Far From Heaven, for which he was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar.  The filmmaker most recently helmed the acclaimed HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, and he makes an excellent addition to what looks to be promising project.  Blanchett and Wasikowska remain attached to star, and Carol has a script by playwright Phyllis Nagy.  Hopefully production can get underway soon.