“A Beautiful Mind” helmer to adapt “The Girl Before” thriller novel

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ron Howard will direct a movie adaptation of the J.P. Delaney thriller “The Girl Before” for Universal, Variety reports.

Michael De Luca is producing with Imagine Entertainment’s Howard, Brian Grazer and Erica Huggins. Imagine’s Tyler Michael will be exec producer and Elishia Holmes will exec produce for Michael De Luca Productions.

Universal bought the movie rights to “The Girl Before,” a novel that Ballantine Bantam Dell Random House will publish in the fall of 2016. The story involves a traumatized woman who falls in love with a minimalist house and the man who designed it — only to discover that another woman died at the house three years earlier.

Delaney is believed to a pen name for novelist Tony Strong.

Howard directed Warner Bros.’ “In The Heart Of The Sea,” which opens on Dec. 11, and Sony’s “Da Vinci Code” follow-up “Inferno,” which launches Oct. 14, 2016. De Luca is a producer on “Inferno” and Universal’s “Fifty Shades of Grey” franchise.

The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.