Anna Chazelle to direct movie adaptation of Elmore Leonard's The Trespassers

French-American actor, writer and producer Anna Chazelle is set to direct the film adaptation of author Elmore Leonard's crime novel, The Trespassers.

Written in 1958, the novel was published after Leonard's death in 2013. According to reports, Troy Blake has adapted the screenplay.

The story is told from the point of view of a young woman who becomes frustrated with her mild-mannered husband. "When the husband refuses to confront some men who are illegally hunting on the couple's remote homestead, his wife takes matters into her own hands," the synopsis reads.

Megan Freels Johnston, the granddaughter of the late crime novelist, is producing the project via her Look At Me Films, along with Nick Terry of Zero Gravity Management. Stephen Gary and Peter Leonard are on board as executive producers.

"The Trespassers is such a relevant story because whether it's 1958 or today, many women can relate to the vulnerability of having to defend themselves against misogynistic men who have an expectation for getting what they want," Johnston said.

Chazelle will be the first woman director to helm an adaptation of Leonard's novel.