Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese looks to be keeping busy as ever in the immediate future. Now that his first venture into both 3D and family-friendly filmmaking, Hugo, is about to hit theaters, Scorsese can turn his attention to the slew of additional projects he's reportedly either attached to or set to helm.

You can now add one more to Scorsese's to-do list: The Snowman, an adaptation of the seventh installment in Norwegian author Jo Nesbo's popular murder-mystery series revolving around anti-authoritatian, heavy-drinking cop, Harry Hole.

THR has confirmed that Scorsese is officially onboard to direct The Snowman, which he's been circling for at least a month now. The film adaptation will be scripted by Matthew Michael Carnahan, the scribe partly (or fully) responsible for political dramas/thrillers such as The Kingdom, Lions for Lambs, and State of Play; he also co-wrote the upcoming World War Z adaptation.

Here is an official plot summary for Nesbo's Snowman novel:

Detective Inspector Harry Hole receives an anonymous letter signed "The Snowman." Later he finds an alarming common thread in all the old disappearance cases. Married women go missing the day the first snow falls. That same night Sylvia Pedersen is fighting her way through the first snow in a forest outside Oslo. She knows she is running for her life, but she doesn't know what from. Nor does she know what lies ahead. Fortunately.

There's no word yet whether Scorsese's Snowman adaptation will shift the setting over to the U.S. and "Americanize" the story (a la what The Departed did with its inspiration, the movie Infernal Affairs) or retain the original overseas backdrop, similar to what David Fincher selected to do with his own popular European neo-Noir mystery adaptation, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Nesbo, for his part, has already made it known that he does not insist that The Snowman be shot on location in Oslo.

joe nesbo snowman novel martin scorsese

The Snowman would be an interesting work for Scorsese, who's handled many a dark and violent film in the past - a full-fledged serial killer/detective mystery tale, however, is untested territory for him. Nonetheless, the idea of the Taxi Driver and Goodfellas helmer putting his own spin on a story that's arguably more up Fincher's alley sounds quite promising.

Scorsese is also attached to reunite with Leonardo DiCaprio on both The Wolf of Wall Street and The Gambler in the future; he also has plans to eventually make The Irishman, a long-gestating passion project that would re-team the director with Robert De Niro (among others) and serve as a cinematic ode to both of their careers. That's not to mention projects like a Frank Sinatra biopic and Silence, which Scorsese has long been rumored to handle. So, we'll just have to wait and see which of these movies Scorsese actually ends up working on in the next couple of years.

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We will continue to keep you posted on the status of The Snowman as the story develops.

Source: THR