Henry Bean (The Believer) will write and direct Down by the River for Universal, according to Variety.

The film is an adaptation of Charles Bowden's novel about drug deals on both sides of the Mexican border and revolves around a 1995 murder in El Paso, Texas, that was originally believed to be the result of a botched carjacking but was later tied to the victim's brother's work busting drug runners for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The story eventually implicates the uppermost reaches of the Mexican government.