Ben Affleck, Ana De Armas In Talks To Star In Erotic Thriller 'Deep Water'

Ben Affleck is set to play another bad suburban husband in Deep Water, the feature adaptation of the erotic thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith, author of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Affleck and Blade Runner 2049's Ana de Armas are in talks to lead the Deep Water cast as a dissatisfied married couple "whose mind games with each other take a twisted turn when people around them start turning up dead."

Deadline reports that director Adrian Lyne will make his comeback to the erotic thriller with the adaptation of Deep Water, which is set to star Affleck and de Armas. This would be Lyne's first film since 2002's Unfaithful, but the subject matter seems to be appropriate for the director behind Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal. Zack Helm (Stranger Than Fiction) and Sam Levinson (Euphoria) have adapted Highsmith's 2003 novel.

According to Deadline, Affleck and de Armas are in talks to play Vic and Melinda Van Allen "an attractive young married couple... [that] staves off divorce in a loveless marriage by allowing each to take lovers, but it becomes messy as Highsmith exposed the surface facade of American suburban life." The plot sounds not unlike another domestic drama that Affleck earned praise for starring in: Gone Girl. Though the actor and filmmaker seems like he's at a point in his career where erotic thrillers are behind him, perhaps he's hoping to repeat the success of the award-winning David Fincher film.

Here is the synopsis to the Deep Water book (via Amazon):

Vic and Melinda Van Allen's loveless marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby, in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family. Eventually, Vic can no longer suppress his jealousy and tries to win back his wife by asserting himself through a tall tale of murder?one that soon comes true. In this complex portrayal of a dangerous psychosis emerging in the most unlikely of places, Highsmith examines the chilling reality behind the idyllic facade of American suburban life.

New Regency is financing the film that will be produced by Garrett Basch, Steven Zaillian, Entertainment 360's Guymon Casady and Ben Forkner, Arnon Milchan, and Anthony Katagas (12 Years A Slave).

The plan is for the film to shoot in November.