Per Variety, Julia Roberts is in negotiations to star in "Daniel Isn't Talking," about a couple whose lives are turned upside down when their son is diagnosed with autism.

The pic, to be produced under the Fox 2000 label, is an adaptation of a novel by author Marti Leimbach, whose "Dying Young" was adapted into film in 1991 and also starred Roberts. "Rent" scribe Stephen Chbosky will write the script, and former Paramount president of production Karen Rosenfelt will produce.

From Variety: "Stephen Chbosky ("Rent") is adapting Leimbach's London-set novel about a couple and their two children. When it's revealed that the son is autistic, the family's orderly life is shattered.

Autism is a subject of passion for Roberts, who recently optioned the film rights to Cammie McGovern's book "Eye Contact," about a mother and her autistic son."