'West Of Memphis' Director Amy Berg Helming 'Every Secret Thing' Penned By Nicole Holofcener, Starring Diane Lane

Earlier this year, documentarian Amy Berg ("Deliver Us From Evil") arrived at the Sundance Film Festival with mild controversy and lots of interest with "West of Memphis," a brand new documentary on the West Memphis Three with some startling new revelations. For better or worse, a lot of the attention came from Peter Jackson's involvement with the case and with the film as a producer. But for Berg's feature fiction narrative debut, she'll be standing all on her own with some pretty nice names supporting her as well.

The helmer is set to take on the long-developing crime drama "Every Secret Thing," penned by Nicole Holofcener ("Please Give," "Lovely & Amazing") with Diane Lane slated to star. First bubbling to the surface a couple of years ago when Frances McDormand boarded the project as a producer (yes, she's still involved) and Lane became attached, the film is an adaptation of a standalone thriller from crime writer Laura Lippman (author of the popular Tess Monaghan series and wife of "The Wire" creator David Simon) that follows two 11-year-old girls who are convicted of killing a baby and get released at the age of 18, only for more children to start going missing. So yeah, not entirely unfamililar ground for Berg, so she seems like a solid choice.

No word yet on when this will film, but until then, Holofcener is getting her own next directorial effort going. You might recall that back in the spring it was revealed that Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini were going to star in the still-untitled film, and the writer/director has added another, lesser-known name in the shape of "Paranormal Activity 3" star Christopher Smith. A detailed plot is scarce at the moment, but the the story will center on a masseuse (JLD) who falls in love with the husband (JG) of a new friend. Smith will play a man JLD's character meets before hooking up with Tony Soprano. We certainly like the talent and the premise is promising, and we'll see the results soon enough with the Fox Searchlight flick set to start shooting in a matter of weeks. [Variety]