Viggo Mortensen and DRIVE screenwriter developing Patricia Highsmith adaptation

Viggo Mortensen and Drive screenwriter, Hossein Amini, have teamed to develop an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's "The Two Faces of January," according to a source that spoke with The LA Times. The project is planned as Amini's directorial debut, with Mortensen set to star.

The suspense novel was written in 1964 and "centers on an American con artist, his wife, and a stranger they meet while traveling in Athens. After one of them kills a Greek police officer, the trio enter a high-stakes game with the authorities and one another as they attempt to cover up the crime and flee the country."The novel is similar to one of her most famous novels, The Talented Mr. Ripley, also focusing on murderous Americans overseas. That novel was turned into a film starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Highsmith passed away in 1995, and also wrote the novel which Alfred Hitchcock based Strangers on a Train.

The project would have Mortensen starring as one of the male leads, with the other two roles being cast. January was initially set up with Anthony Minghella's production company (he directed Mr. Ripley). The financing is being put together now on the independent film. Mortensen will next been seen in the Walter Salles' adaptation of On the Road.