Red-hot Scottish director David MacKenzie ("Hallam Foe") has boarded the psychological drama Stain In the Snow, an adaptation of the 1948 novel by Georges Simenon, which Germany's Studio Hamburg International is producing.

Mackenzie will move to Stain in the Snow after finishing his U.S. feature film debut, the sex comedy Spread starring Aston Kutcher and Anne Heche.

Set in an unnamed country obviously based on Nazi-occupied France, the novel is about a naive boy who descends into psychosis and depravity. It was previously adapted for the screen by Luis Saslavsky as "La Neige etait sale" (1952).

The Hollywood Reporter says Simenon was one of the most prolific and acclaimed writers of the 20th century. His books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide and dozens have been made into films. Simenon was president of the Cannes jury in 1960.