My understanding was that horror writer Dean Koontz was fed up with Hollywood and we wouldn’t be seeing an of his book adapted to film any time soon. I guess enough time has passed as the author of Phantoms, Sole Survivor, Hideaway and Mr. Murder will have his novel The Husband adapted for the big screen by up-and-coming horror director Ole Bornedal. Read on for the skinny.
Focus Features has acquired the rights from Random House to Dean Koontz’s novel “The Husband,” about an ordinary working man whose love for his wife is put to a harrowing series of tests over a 60-hour period.

Deal comes out of Focus Features’ multi-year partnership with Random House’s film division to develop, co-finance and co-produce feature films.

Focus, which will keep worldwide distribution and sales rights on the project, has attached Danish helmer Ole Bornedal (“Just Another Love Story”) to direct. Bornedal will write a new draft of the script, which was originally penned by Glenn Gers.

Remake rights to Bornedal’s “Just Another Love Story” and “The Substitute” have both been acquired by Mandate Pictures with Sam Raimi to produce through his Ghost House Pictures shingle.

Focus creative executive Matthew Plouffe is supervising the project for Focus production prexy John Lyons and Random House Films’ prexy Peter Gethers.

The Focus-Random House pact was first announced in November 2005.

Projects being developed under the deal include an adaptation of Yasmina Khadra’s “The Attack,” about a middle-class Palestinian doctor working in an Israeli hospital who discovers his wife may have been a suicide bomber, and Bob Drogin’s “Curveball,” about an informant who offers deceptive information to the United States government about biological weapons in Iraq in order to justify an invasion.