Sam Raimi in talks for ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ novelist’s ‘Love May Fail’

There's the mischievous horrormeister Sam Raimi, the blockbuster wizard Sam Raimi, and the pensive character-observing Sam Raimi. The latter doesn't get enough work – welcome to Hollywood, folks! – but sturdy relationships from the “Spider-Man” director's past may put a high-profile, awards-friendly project at the front of his “to do” queue. Fans of the “A Simple Plan” and “The Gift,” rejoice.

Deadline reports that Raimi is in talks to take the reins on “Love May Fail,” the next novel from “Silver Linings Playbook” author Matthew Quick. The book was the subject of a major studio bidding war last September. Sony Pictures came out on top, putting the project in the hands of Matt Tolmach, who worked with Raimi on the first “Spider-Man” trilogy when he headed production at Sony (he now produces “The Amazing Spider-Man” circus). Tolmach will produce the film, based on a script by Mike White [obligatory reminder to watch “Enlightened”].

If the deal crystalizes, Raimi will helm the story of a woman who returns retreats from a decaying marriage with a cheating husband to her childhood town, where she fights to clear the name of her English teacher, whose career imploded after a classroom scandal. We'd recommend reading the novel for a clearer picture, but that's currently not an option; “Love May Fail” will be published in June 2015 as part of Quick's two-book deal with Harper Collins.

Quick is currently dominating Hollywood. Last week, The Weinstein Company picked up the rights to his young adult novel “Every Exquisite Thing.” Deadline reminds us that his previous novels “Forgive Me,” “Leonard Peacock” and “The Good Luck Of Right Now” are all in various stages of development. When Sony picked up “Love May Fail,” Quick had also set up his 2010 book “Sorta Like a Rock Star” at Fox Searchlight.

Will Quick's source material bump Raimi into a new renaissance of Academy respect a la David O Russell (who, yes, technically breached the buzz threshold with “The Fighter,” but still)? Raimi certainly has the skills. Whether the book offers anything more than “OZ Great and Powerful” is another matter.

Promising: “Love May Fail” takes its title from the 1979 Kurt Vonnegut novel “Jailbird,” in which he writes, “Love may fail, but courtesy will prevail.”

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