Kelly Reichardt Adapting Undermajordomo Minor

Certain Women has grossed more than $1 million at the U.S. box office, making it Kelly Reichardt’s most financially successful film to date. She’s also earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Director.

In a recent interview with the LA Times, Reichardt revealed she’s currently working on an adaptation of Patrick deWitt’s novel Undermajordomo Minor. The synopsis of the book is below, and the “ink-black comedy” and “adventure story” seems like a bit of a departure for the filmmaker, though it could be interesting to see her deliberate style applied to the fable. Regardless, it’s a safe bet that characters will be caught looking longingly at something.

Friendless and loveless, young and aimless, Lucien (Lucy) Minor is the resident odd duck in his bucolic hamlet of Bury, a weakling and compulsive liar in a town famous for producing brutish giants. When Lucy finds employment—as Undermajordomo, assisting the Majordomo of a remote, foreboding castle—he soon discovers the place harbors many dark secrets, not least of which is the whereabouts of the castle’s master, Baron Von Aux. Along the way, he encounters thieves, madmen, aristocrats, and Klara, a delicate beauty for whose love he must compete. Thus begins a tale of theft, heartbreak, mystery, and cold-blooded murder in which every aspect of humanity is laid bare for our hero to observe. Undermajordomo Minor is an adventure story, a fable without a moral, an ink-black comedy of manners, and a love story—and Lucy must be careful, for love is a violent thing.