Helmer Phillip Noyce ("The Quiet American") has optioned the novel "Dirt Music" by Australian writer Tim Winton, reports Variety.
Noyce will direct and produce the picture, which will be adapted by Justin Monjo ("Farscape").
Set in a remote fishing village on the West Australian coast, "Dirt Music" is the story of a woman who is unhappy in her marriage to a rich widower and launches a passionate affair.
Winton's novel won the Miles Franklin literary award this year and was short-listed for the Booker Prize.