Liquid-Love.de | Actionfreunde.de

Paul Verhoeven is coming back to America.

The Dutch director, who most recently helmed his native-tongued “Black Book,” has come aboard to develop and direct “The Surrogate,” a thriller for 20th Century Fox. Ralph Winter is producing via his Winter Road shingle along with Deborah Giarratana, Robin Guthrie and Susana Zepeda.

Based on the 2004 book by Kathryn Mackel, the story centers on a couple desperate to have a child who find themselves in an unbearable position when they find out the surrogate they hired to carry their baby is insane.

The project originally was set up at Fox Atomic but moved to Fox proper when Atomic was shuttered. Debbie Liebling, who ran Atomic, is overseeing “Surrogate.”

Roderick Taylor and Bruce Taylor wrote the original draft.