Fox Searchlight is 'Nice' to Reese Witherspoon

After an extended break, Reese Witherspoon is getting busy again.

Credit: AP Photo

It's taken over a decade, but Jen Jack's 1998 novel "Nice" may finally be making it to the big screen.

Variety reports Fox Searchlight has acquired the darkly comic subject matter as a starring vehicle for Reese Witherspoon.  The Oscar winner will co-produce the project and first-time screenwriter Ben Queen, best known for creating the failed TV show "Drive," will handle the adaptation.  No director is on board at this time.

The original "Nice" was centered on a magazine write who kills her boyfriend by accident.  Hardly a melodrama, she discovers a way to get rid of the bod and comes to the realization that killing boyfriends is easier than breaking up with them.

The project was initially set up by Warner Bros. for Helen Hunt to star in, but the studio mistakenly tried to remove the darker elements and the project fell apart.  Searchlight intends to be more faithful to the book.

"Nice" isn't the only Fox Searchlight picture on Witherspoon's agenda.  She's expected to star opposite Sacha Baron Cohen in Alexander Payne's "Downsizing" which should land at the mini-major.  Later this summer, Witherspoon should begin shooting Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson in James L. Brooks' new untitled comedy.