Actor/writer/director Mathieu Kassovitz ("Hate," "Gothika," "The Crimson Rivers") will write and direct a movie based on the Maurice Dentac novel "Babylon Babies," says Variety. Fox will bankroll the big-budget sci-fi thriller, which is described as such: "(The) story is set in the near future and concerns genetic manipulation. In the book, a mercenary charged with delivering a young woman from Russia to Canada learns that she has been manipulated by a synthetic virus and what lies inside her could doom the human race."

Mr. Kassovitz plans to get the project underway once he's done performing in Steven Spielberg's upcoming film, which is the as-yet-untitled story of the 1972 Munich Olympics tragedy and resulting terrorist manhunt.

As an actor, you might also remember Mathieu from films like "Amelie" and "Birthday Girl."