Focus Features has signed Ole Bornedal to direct the thriller The Husband, based on the bestselling Dean Koontz novel.

Focus, which has a deal with Random House’s Films, holds worldwide rights to the project about a man whose marriage is tested over the course of 60 harrowing hours after he receives a devastating call from a stranger.

Bornedal has started writing the latest draft of the screenplay adaptation, which was most recently scripted by Glenn Gers.

Focus creative executive Matthew Plouffe is supervising the film for Focus president of production John Lyons; while Random House Films president Peter Gethers is also supervising.

“Ole’s work, as a writer-director who deftly crafts human-scaled stories of suspense and drama, makes him the ideal film-maker to bring Dean’s gripping bestseller to the screen,” Focus CEO James Schamus said.

Bornedal’s newest thriller Deliver Us From Evil has just been released in his native Denmark.

Under their multi-year deal, Focus and Random House Films will develop, co-finance and co-produce adaptations of Random House imprints worldwide. The films are jointly owned and Focus retains worldwide distribution rights.

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