Though Forest Whitaker may soon be incurring the wrath of Liam Neeson in Taken 3, the Oscar-winning actor is also lining up another directorial project for the near future.  Deadline reports that Whitaker is in talks to direct and co-star in an adaptation of the bestselling William Paul Young novel The Shack.  The self-published, faith-based book tells the story of a man who whose daughter was abducted and brutally murdered in an abandoned shack in the Oregon wilderness.  Years later, the man receives a note, apparently from God, inviting him to return to the shack where he finds something that will change his life forever.  Summit Entertainment acquired the feature rights to the book last April and John Fusco (Hidalgo) is penning the script.

Assuming this project moves forward sooner rather than later, this will be Whitaker’s first directorial effort since 2004’s First Daughter.  He also previously helmed 1998’s Hope Floats and 1995’s Waiting to Exhale.  Read the synopsis for The Shack after the jump.

Here’s the synopsis for Young’s novel The Shack:

Mackenzie Allen Phillips's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever. [Amazon]