Variety reports that fashion designer Tom Ford is set to direct Nocturnal Animals, his second film of impeccably tailored anguish after A Single Man, and Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams are in talks to star. Based on the novel Tony And Susan by Austin Wright, the story follows Alice, a woman who receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband whom she left 20 years earlier. The second half of the story dramatizes the manuscript itself, entitled Nocturnal Animals, about a man whose family vacation turns deadly. As Alice reads the manuscript, she recalls her first marriage and must confront some “dark truths about herself.”
“Who cares?,” you’re probably asking. “What will she be wearing?” Since she’ll spend most of the story seated and reading, we’re guessing Yves Saint Laurent. But the fainting couch she occupies will probably be just as impressive, as well as the designer trash can where she’ll throw away her Gucci tissues.
According to sources, no deals have been made yet, but both actors are enthusiastic about the script. This fits right in with Gyllenhaal’s current body of work, which includes the recent Nightcrawler—itself a nocturnal animal—and Enemy, a film that spun its own dark (and hairy) truths. Meanwhile, Adams is contracted to play Lois Lane for the foreseeable future, so consider this an act of chic rebellion.