LaBute, Hackford open 'Door'

Duo set for New Line remake

By MICHAEL FLEMING

LaBute

Hackford

New Line has tapped Neil LaBute to write and Taylor Hackford to direct "The Woman Next Door," a remake of the 1981 Francois Truffaut film "La Femme d'a cote."

Studio is tying down rights from the late director's estate. Radar topper Ted Fields will produce with Frederic Golchan and Hackford.

Pic marks the first writing assignment LaBute has taken on for another director. LaBute won't begin writing until the WGA strike is resolved, but he couldn't resist Hackford's offer, which was made after the helmer and wife Helen Mirren saw LaBute's play "Wrecks."

"This is a lesser-known Truffaut film about ex-lovers, long separated, who suddenly find themselves living next door to each other," LaBute said. "Each is married. Neither tells their spouse they know each other, and it's a collision course into disaster as they rekindle a volatile relationship, with great passion and suspense. ... Taylor said if he was ever going to remake a movie, this was the one he could do something with."

LaBute is in post-production on "Lakeview Terrace," a Screen Gems thriller he directed.

Hackford is preparing to direct Mirren and Joe Pesci in "Love Ranch," a Capitol Films-financed drama.